After a delicious meal, we said goodbye and followed James out the door. "James I just want to make sure we've got this straight, I'm going to train a few people then I'm done." I told him.

"Yes, of course." He replied.

"Okay." I didn't feel all that assure, but I got us into this.

We made it to the center of town where we walked into a building that was just metal and glass, no forgiving wood like we were all used to.

"Who do we train?" I asked James.

"First you need to meet the elders." James told me.

"Let's make this quick then." I said.

We went up three flights of stairs and were told to wait outside a set of giant mahogany doors, while James went in to alert the elders of our presence. Then after several minutes of uncomfortable silence, the massive doors swung inward, revealing a magnificent room behind. There were 3 table in total, with countless amounts of elaborate chairs surrounding them, each one with a distinctive design handcrafted to be unique and unlike any other. Each chair had a different prehistoric cat's symbol or sign. There were five men that I could see, all of them in a simple white dress shirts and black pants. I suddenly felt underdressed in my shorts and tank-top. I walked towards the middle of the room, Sara quickly followed. At first, I thought someone was play the timpani in the corner of the room, but then I realized that was just my heart pounding. I had heard the horrific stories about what these men have done in the past. I was not anxious to see what they would do to me if I happened to mess up at any point. I decided I had to take my mind off those horrors, so I inspected each cat, as if I were sizing them up for a fight.

One of the elders stood up and stepped forward. He was tall, maybe in his late teens, with deep brown hair, almost jet black, greased up real good, he had smile wrinkles, which I took as a good sign, he had perfect posture, and seemed to fake to be a real man. "Welcome. I am Matthew Smokeheart, but since you two are our guests, please call me Matt." I didn't like the way he said 'guests' as if he actually meant something worse, but I told myself it was just my nerves. "I assume you have just as many questions just as we do, but for now, please make yourself at home among my colleges." He took a step back as if waiting for us to respond.

I stepped forward, trying to sound as courageous as I could, but my voice came out like a nervous screech. "Nice to meet you all, I am Alexander Firestar, and this is Sara..." I looked back at her, luckily, she knew to step in.

"Kamara, Sara Kamara." She said much more confidently then I did, though the look in her eyes was frightful, the fire danced in her eyes. Her eyes looked as if she wanted every man in this room dead, along with all the fancy furniture burned.

Another man stood up, older, looking closer to his mid-20s, with wavy dirty blond hair, and he had brilliant white teeth, as sharp as daggers, but never the less, blindingly bright teeth. "Welcome to you both, I am Tyler Riverbend. I just can't wait to hear what will be...changing around here." He gave me his deadly white smile.

I tried to hide it, but I shivered, not from cold, but from phony niceness I was receiving from these immensely powerful, and dangerous men. Not wanting to stay any longer then I had to, I asked who I will be training.

Matt stood up, seeming to be the head of the elders. "Well somebody's eager to get started." He gave a slight laugh as he spoke. "Please Alex, spare us your time, and tell us what you know."

"I know how to live among the wild, among nature, among our homelands of wildlife. I need not, a match to light a fire, I need not a net to catch a fish, I need not a watch to tell time, I only need what I have been provided with by the woods. This is a better alternative to fighting, what good will fighting do us? While we are busy fighting ourselves, those around us have the perfect opportunity to strike us. When we fight ourselves, we are at our weakest state, only united can we be strong." I informed them, mustering my courage to look each and every one of them in the eye.

It took a moment before anyone could respond, but after glancing at his colleagues, Matt spoke again. "I see." He paused, choosing his words carefully. "A very interesting perspective you have my friend."

"That might be true." I replied sharply, starting to get why Sara hated these guys so much.

"You seem to be becoming rather annoyed." Matt said with a knowing, yet unnerving smile.

"Why yes, I am. I want to train someone, so as to return home, the sooner the better." I said, anger started creeping into my voice.

He made a tisk-tisk sound. "Now I would be careful to take such tones with us."

Now getting real peeved. "Well what do you expect my tone to be? I'm merely only two, I'm away from my parents, I must train someone in the ways of the wild, and y'all keep bugging me with questions and formalities. I would like to get down to business already."

The elders seemed taken back. Then as if someone flipped a switch, every elder started yelling and arguing. Then Sara spoke up for the first time since we introduced ourselves. "Silence!" It got deathly quiet just as fast as it had gotten loud. Sara continued after she had their attention. "Now, I don't see how you five men, who are supposed to be high and almighty, are fit to lead us, you idiots can't wake up and see the reality. Alex alone has worked harder then the five of y'all combined. That is sad. You retards don't realize the truth, times are changing, and we need to change too. In a fight, if you don't adapt and change quickly, you end up dead, or at least knocked out. That is what we'll soon become if we don't act now, if we can change, adapt our ways, live in the wild some, we'll have options for when trouble comes. If y'all can't see that, then we're gone."

I looked at Sara with a mixture of pride and awe, she was brave enough to stand up on our defense and even call these jacks just a few of the names they deserved.

The elders thought carefully before speaking this time. A short man, who I had yet to be introduced to, finally spoke, breaking the silence. "Sara, darling, now is not the time to be rash, we were merely intrigued about what Alex can do to help us." He spoke as soothingly as possible.

"Well Alex isn't here to help you." She said defiantly.

"Oh, really? Then why is he here? Why are you here?" He replied, with a hint of annoyance.

"He is here to help the people of this town, not you filthy cowards. I'm here so I don't lose someone else I care about. You had stripped my family of my father for too long, I'm not allowing that to happen to Alex too." Sara replied with so much passion, I couldn't help but want to give her a hug, I knew she wouldn't appreciate it, but I still wanted to.

The elders seemed unaffected. The same short little man spoke up. "Sara, I know you're upset about your father's death, we all are, but we had no part in it."

Sara was about to speak when I cut her off, giving her a warning look. "Of course you wouldn't, we're all running on raw emotion from earlier today. Now how about we discuss who I must train, and get started, we all would like to go home."

"Very wise of you Alex." Matt replied. "You may go home, but you must report back here at dawn to train. Understood?"

"Yes sir." I replied sharply. I quickly ushered Sara out of their office, eager to leave.