"So, Forest," Branch says after today's fighting test, "how did you do?"

Interestingly enough, I am standing in the same place where I met with Mirage last night. Branch and I are sitting with our backs to the gray rocks of one of the dens.

I stare at up at the plain light gray sky as I reply, "Horribly. Like usual." I turn my face towards him. "What about you?"

"Oh, nothing special," Branch meows with a flick of his tail.

I am automatically shocked by his response. Almost jumping to my paws, I respond, "What? Nothing special? You bird-head, I saw you almost beat Snowflake. And you're not even a Superior!" I snort at him.

"Well, that's because she's not allowed to use her power, whatever it might be! That would be unfair, don't you think?" Branch's whiskers spread out in amusement. "Besides, I wasn't that good."

"Yes, you were!" I interject. My voice lowers as I add, "You know, maybe you should be a little more careful if you don't want to get put in the Army."

A unsettled feeling rises in my chest as I see Branch's ears flatten to his head. "What?" he meows loudly. "Why wouldn't I want to get put in the Army? That would be cool."

Oh, great. The unsettled feeling changes to a frantic panic. I forgot that he's like the others- brainwashed into thinking that the Superiors are the best. To save myself, I stammer, "Uh, well, I meant, don't get yourself put into the Army yet until I get better at fighting. Haha, yeah, don't leave me behind, bird-head!"

Branch still looks a little offended with his twitching tail and ears slightly flattened, but whether he agrees with me or not, he plays along. "Oh, yeah, right! I get that. Wouldn't want to do that to you, poor thing," he teases.

After a few seconds of silence, Branch changes the subject. "By the way," he says with a twinkle in his eyes, "I'm noticing that you're using the word bird-head much more often. Why do you think that is?"

"Why are you so interested about that?" I flick my tail as I hear Mirage's voice in the distance calling for everyone to get back into the camp because the tests are over.

Branch and I stand up at the same time as he sneakily responds, "Just curious, but I'm pretty sure I know the answer." He wiggles his whiskers as he points his tail in Mirage's direction before he turns and runs towards the camp entrance.

"Get back here!" I shout and bolt after him, understanding what he means right away. "Honestly, Branch, why are you so weird?"

Branch is hysterically purring with laughter as we halt when we reach the middle of the camp. "Come on, you know it's true. I see you with her all the time. You even started to use her vocabulary!"

"You're wrong," I pant, "I'm never with her!"

Branch purrs, "Sure, keep telling yourself that. You two would make a cute couple." Just then, I see a devilish glint in his eyes before he walks away.

Ugh, first Stripe, now him. Why am I always the target for this particular type of drama? Sure, Mirage is pretty interesting, but I'm just not her type of cat. Besides, I really just want to get back to Earth and live my normal life again, not stay in Gardinia to maintain a romance that will probably not last.

I pause to make sure Branch is not heading to Mirage to do a love confession for me. Luckily, he's going the opposite direction, towards Night and Sky. Maybe it's to spread the rumor about my crush on Mirage, judging on his tail, which is shooting straight up in the air. I should stop it. I don't even have a crush on her.

        I just want to be left alone until night comes and I get to be with Mirage.

        My mind catches what I just thought of right away. No, not being with her, she's just helping me improve my fighting.

        Oh no...what's wrong with me?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        "Try again. You're so slow." Mirage growls for the hundredth time as she sneers at me.

        She had insisted that we have to work on my speed in order to improve on my fighting. Apparently, according to her, that is the number-one reason why I suck at fighting: I'm too slow, and opponents can easily dodge me because of that. Tonight, I'm working on the fight move where I strike the bridge of a cat's nose. It's used to shock an opponent so you can inflict more damage on them.

        For a long amount of time, I've been trying to do it on Mirage. The only problem is that she's way too fast for me.

        "Well?" Mirage stops stalking around me for a second to stare at me straight in the eye. Even the gigantic pink scar on her face looks like it's mocking me. "Are you just going to stand there like an idiot, or are you going to try again?"

        I flatten my ears. "You want me to try again?" I snort. "Fine." Without another pause, I shoot my right paw up into the air and slam it down. However, like all of my other attempts, my claws land on thin air. My head turns to Mirage's figure, with not even a strand of ruffled fur, standing safely away from my paws.

        She sneers at me again. "You look like you need an example," she says. Before I fully process the meaning of what she just said, she leaps toward me, and before I can even move a muscle, an immense impact crushes me. Fiery pain bursts from the bridge of my nose. The breath is knocked out of my entire body.

        I release a low moan as I lower my head toward the ground, but another impact slams my side. Suddenly, I am laying down with a weight painfully pressing down on my back and a crushed nose.

        Mirage's breath tickles my ear as I feel her head bow down at my level. "Bird-head," she growls very slowly, "that is what I mean by fast. I don't know what nonsense you were taught on Earth on this subject, but in Gardinia, by fast, we mean Superior-fast. Do you understand what I am saying?"

         I stammer, "But how am I supposed to be Superior-fast if I'm not a Superior?"

       Mirage purrs at my response. "I know that. Superiors are better than any type of normal cat.  You can try, though. What you were doing was not trying." She leaps off of me.

        I stumble back on my feet, wincing at my sore nose. "I was, too!" I protest, turning on her furiously.

        "Sure, you were," Mirage sarcastically snaps, shaking out her white fur, "So how about you actually hit me?"

        "Fine!" I lower to the ground, ready to do just that, when I see a strange shape close behind Mirage. My body freezes as my eyes narrow through the semi-darkness of the night to see who is there.

        Mirage tilts her head, noticing my change of behavior. "What?" she hisses loudly. "What are you looking at?"

        My heart drops to my stomach. I wish it wasn't true, but by the glowing green eyes and slightly twitching ears of the the figure, it is. We are being watched.

        "Mirage," I whisper, still frozen in the awkward, lowered position, "there is someone behind you."

Mirage's eyes turn cold. She slowly turns around to face the stranger, who stands up as Mirage's eyes land on the cat.

As the cat walks toward us, I notice with a twinge of relief that it's not Name. In fact, I'm not sure if I have even seen this cat before. The cat is on the small side, with light gray tabby fur and the glowing green eyes that are actually blue when she comes close. Mirage is turned away from me, so I can't see her expression, but her ears are flattened all the way down to her head. Her fur is ruffled.

When the stranger comes close to Mirage, she meows, "Why, hello, Mirage. I didn't expect to see you so late in the night." Contrary to what I've been expecting, her voice sounds tranquil and polite, which is the complete opposite of what Mirage's reaction to seeing her looks like.

Mirage steps in front of me, as if she wants to keep me away from this strange cat. She hisses, "What in the world are you doing here, Rainfall? I knew you would try to go spying on us."

The cat purrs in the same pleasant tone, "What? Spying? Never!" She flicks her tail, glancing at me. "You know, Mirage, you can probably just call me by my nickname now. Rainfall sounds so formal. Call me-"

"Don't you dare change the subject!" Mirage yowls, her voice piercing the cool night air. I almost tell her to be quiet or else she could wake up the entire camp of cats, but I doubt she would listen to me. She continues in a more normal, yet nasty tone, "Listen, Rainfall. You better get your fluffy butt out of here before I wake up everyone to chase after you. You hear me?"

        Rainfall nods, although the look in her ocean-blue eyes says that she won't be leaving quite yet. "Come on, Mirage," she meows, "relax. I was just going on a night walk. I didn't know you were doing night fighting training. Don't you usually just guard?" She gestures toward me with her tail.

        "None of your business!" Mirage snaps.

        Before Mirage says anything else though, I feel too curious to stay silent anymore. I step next to Mirage and ask Rainfall, "Uh, could I ask where in the world did you come from?"

Rainfall's tail goes up in the air. She automatically brightens up, as if I just told her that I loved her. "Sure, you can!" she cheerfully exclaims. She continues, speaking at such a fast pace that I can barely keep up with her. "My name is Rainfall, but don't be so formal- call me Rain. I'm the leader of Team Gardinia, which is a gigantic rebel group set to destroy the leadership of the Superiors and create equality for everyone. There are more rebel groups around here, but this one is the largest and most devoted one you'll find."

        "That's it!" Mirage leaps up, stalks between Rain and me, and shoves her nose up in her face. "Look," she snarls, "I lost my patience. If you don't get out of here this instant, I'm going to murder you."

        "Murder me?" Rain snorts in amusement. "You can barely hurt me, let alone murder me."

Mirage's ears flatten. Her back is turned to me, but I already know that Rain's remark is angering her even more than before. I cast a sideways glance at the entrance to the camp, wondering if anyone woke up from this commotion. All I know is that if I get caught in the middle of this mess, then I'm dead.

I slowly back away from both of them as Mirage growls in a very low, suddenly deathly calm voice, "Oh, how nice that you think that. How about we test that theory?"

Oh, no. Are they going to fight? "Hey, guys," I stammer, glancing in the camp entrance, "maybe it's not such a great idea to-"

"It would be a pleasure to test that theory, Mirage." Either Rain didn't hear me, or she pretended that she didn't. Her voice is still happy, but it's the fake-happy type of voice. Rain moves. She starts to pace in a wide circle around Mirage with a smooth, calculated gait.

        I think it's time to get out, now. I'm many feet away from them, now. Why I haven't left yet, I have no idea except just out of plain curiosity to what is happening.

        Mirage has an excuse for being out here- she's the guard. I don't have one, though. I'm just a normal Earth cat whose fate won't be a happy one if I get caught out here. Apparently, neither of these cats notice, though, because Mirage growls at Rain and lowers down, ready to pounce on her.

        Before I can watch them any longer, I hear a soft pattering sound that makes my muscles freeze. My heart stops. The sound is coming from the entrance to the camp.

        My mind is frozen, too. I can't think of anything, not one thought, until a shadow creeps up a few feet away from the right of Mirage and Rain.

        "What is going on here?" an unmistakeable male voice asks.

        And even though the shadow has not noticed my presence yet, I only have one thought: Time to say goodbye to my memories.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for reading Chapter 15 of Forest's Fate! What do you think will happen next? Comment your thoughts, and don't forget to vote if you like this chapter!

-Midnight