Hello again! I'm Blizzard, back with another chapter of ITWC! Sorry about the really really REALLY long wait on this chapter, I kinda lost motivation for a while. Besides, I'm also working in collaboration with Flake on my other story, so I was quite busy with that for a while.

This was also supposed to be published on Halloween but it ended up getting delayed and took a lot longer than I thought, sooo here you go!

Don't you worry, this story isn't dead, and neither is Fate of the Forest.

I won't hold you back any further, go ahead and read!

   "Sooo," Jay started, sounding bored, "where do we find this Earth?"

   "If you can remember, Jay," Kai growled impatiently, "we find it in a valley with no grass."

   "And," Cole added, looking back at the rest of his team, "I know of one such place where we can search for Earth. Whatever that might mean." He turned back to the path they were padding along, pride and courage rising in his chest again.

   He was Cole, son of Lou, a housecat who loved his son and family as dearly as he enjoyed living with Tall-Legs. He called them "humans" instead of the name other cats called them, though, and would spend hours arguing with other cats about the "correct term for humans." Cole's mother, on the other paw, was very sweet and loved all things in nature, from the smallest animal to the greatest danger. Besides all that Lilly loved to eat. Cole just assumed he picked that up from her. The only difference between the two of them in terms of food was that Lilly could actually hunt, while Cole really just couldn't. He didn't know why. He just could NOT hunt.

   Then Lilly suddenly disappeared, the rumor around the town being that she was taken and killed by a dragon. Lou at first believed she would come back, that she didn't give up and would come back no matter what. She was strong, and both Lou and Cole knew that.

   But as time passed Lilly never returned, not even so much as show her face around again. Lou lost hope over time, and eventually he had completely changed. He wasn't kind and benevolent like he used to be; he had turned strict and stern. He tried to turn Cole into a housecat himself, teaching him how to act like one, speak like one...

   Cole hated it. Though he did learn many ways humans acted and where they would usually go in their free time and other stuff like that, he hated acting lazy and stupid all the time. He had strength, bravery, and curiosity. And above all that, endurance and determination. If he didn't like it he didn't have to be forced to do it. This was his life, not his father's. He controlled himself.

   So one night Cole ran from the humans. He was aware that he was leaving his father behind too, but Cole was so desperate to get away and live his own life how he wanted, he could care less about his father. He wanted to feel freedom, and the forest beyond showed him just that.

   Cole let his mind wander as his paws unconsciously lead the way. He had been along this path before many times, and could walk back and forth along it with his eyes closed. Besides, sight was never his strong suit, strength and endurance were. If he were blind the whole time it wouldn't have made a difference.

   After a long while the trio finally arrived at the spot Cole wanted to look around at. Beyond the cats was a barren, flat, smooth land that could hardly be called a field. Sure, it was a valley, all right, but the surface of the area was smooth and black. A colorful human structure yard (Cole believed the correct term was playground?) stood a few running bounds away from the smooth black surface. Human children were at play there, running around noisily and playing games.

   Cole took a pawstep on the warm black surface. The ground felt oddly smooth under his paw pads, but he easily shook off the feeling. Kai and Jay followed, stepping cautiously onto the black surface.

   "What even is this stuff?" Jay gasped, lifting a paw. "This is oddly smooth, but it doesn't feel like stone."

   "The scent is strange too," Kai grumbled. "And it seems to sink a little under my paws."

   "Well it's not as bad as the rotten boneheads' scent, hm?" Cole responded, scanning the valley for any hint of irregularity among the smooth surface. "It's human - er, Tall-Leg stuff. Even grass can't grow in this. That's why I chose this place to search."

   Kai's eyes scanned the area. "Don't you think we've come a little too late?"

   "No," Cole snorted. "In fact, I'm pretty sure we're too early." He motioned with his tail at the playground and the humans. "They don't go home until it's dark. We can search when the sky turns dark."

   "Judging by the color of the sky, nighttime doesn't look too far away," Jay chirped.

   He was right. The sky was a purplish-orange color, and a wave of dark water seemed to follow the bright orange sun as it began to dip its head behind the horizon. Twinkling silver embers started to shine through the black veil that was gathering at the east. 

   "Dusk is upon us," Cole declared, shifting smoothly and easily into his leader role. "Maybe we should go get us a snack before coming back and searching for Earth?"

   "I agree with Cole," Jay exclaimed suddenly. "I'm starving!"

   "We barely traveled for thirty minutes," Kai hissed, twitching his whiskers. He turned to Cole. "But I'd like a snack too, if you don't mind."

   Cole quickly took a step backward. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're looking at the wrong tom for the job," he cautioned. "I'm seriously not the hunter around here."

   "Oh come on, Cole. How bad of a hunter can you be?" Jay encouraged. "Surely someone as strong as you should be able to hunt properly!"

   "I take back everything I said earlier," Jay grunted as he dragged a skinny bird covered in mud. "You are a horrible hunter."

   "Sorry," Cole apologized, shrugging his shoulders. "I tried to warn ya."

   "It's a good thing that me and Jay can actually hunt, otherwise we'd be left starving for the rest of the night," Kai retorted, carrying a relatively fat squirrel in his jaws.

   "Alright, I apologized, jeez." Cole shook his pelt out as the group returned to the black valley. "We'll eat our fill, then search the area -"

   A deep howl filled the air and split the silence of the night, cutting Cole off mid-sentence. He, Jay, and Kai whipped their heads around towards the source of the noise, their pelts on end. Surprisingly, one of the human children - the tallest one out of the group, as it seemed - had their head lifted high up at the moon, the wolf's howl emitting from their open mouth. Cole felt a bit of relief knowing that there wasn't really an actual wolf in the valley, but the howl still left chills running up and down his spine and tail. 

   "Wow, that howl actually sounded like a real wolf," Jay whispered.

   "You can say that again," Kai whispered back. 

   The howl lasted for a long while before the human clambered down from the structure, a group of smaller children at their heels. The one who had howled really was the tallest out of the group; Cole assumed that they were the oldest. 

   A spark of wonder lit in his mind while he observed the humans leave. Cole looked up to the bright moon overhead, a small white sliver in the sky against the dark black carpet behind it. He stared at it for a while before a flurry of stars and a strangely familiar scent floated down towards the human playing structures. It seemed to beckon to Cole and Cole only, as neither Kai nor Jay seemed to pick up the scent or notice the star breeze.

   "Guys, Earth is over here!" Cole exclaimed, flicking his tail for the others to follow as he bounded quietly toward the playground.

   "Cole, wait up!" Jay called after Cole, rushing right behind the brown tom's tail.

   "Hey, there's still humans around here!" Kai hissed, but a second set of paws could be heard pounding against the ground behind Jay's lighter steps.

   Cole took a flying leap from the edge of the black surface into the flaky pit. It's filled with tanbark, great, he thought as a piece of the bark sunk like a thorn into one of his softer pads. It didn't sink in too deep and wasn't too short either, so it was easy to pull out and continue cautiously through the pit. He turned back to see if his teammates had caught up.

   "Ugh, what is this stuff? It stings!" Jay exclaimed as soon as his paws could be heard hitting the tanbark. Another flurry of bark clacking and Jay had sprung back to the black rock, licking his paws vigorously.

   "This is why you watch where you're going, nimrod," Kai snorted, slowing to a halt next to Jay on the edge of the rock and sniffing the tanbark pit. He gave his right paw a good lick and placed it gently on the bark. He shrugged and slowly progressed into the pit one paw at a time. Soon the hot-tempered tom had made his way next to Cole, watching Jay practicing excessive self-care on his paws on the other side of the pit.

   The tom's jay-blue eyes shifted from his paws to Kai and Cole. "What? It still stings!"

   "You've been there since slowpoke here started crossing the pit -" Cole started.

   "Hey!" Kai retorted, lashing his tail once.

   "- yet you still haven't made any progress," Cole finished, shooting a glance at Kai. "Are we going to waste time or -"

   "Actually, I can search around out here while you search in that spikey pit," Jay interrupted. "It's not my fault I don't have hardened pads like you two do."

   "Well that might be from living in that junkyard, where the ground is soft and -" Kai started.

   "Don't you dare bring up the junkyard," Jay hissed, leaping to his paws at last.

   "Hey! You two settle down, we have to find the Weapon of Earth," Cole yowled. Kai and Jay snapped their heads toward Cole and nodded reluctantly, their spiked fur laying flat once more. "Jay, I'll accept your idea and you search outside the tanbark pit. Kai can search with me in here unless he wants to leave and search with Jay." The brown tom nodded at each cat as he gave out their directions. "I'll stay in here and search. Yowl if you find anything strange, even if it's a scent. We don't want anything like what happened to you just then happen again, Jay."

   With a swift nod Jay was off, probing his muzzle along the ground wherever he went. Kai sidestepped towards one section of the playground away from Cole, grumbling as he went.

   Cole shrugged and placed one paw on the flat, smooth structure next to him. He rested another paw on the surface, then hoisted his back paws up. Looking up along the same surface, it was a steady uphill slope. He took four big pawsteps and immediately started sliding back down the structure. He unsheathed his claws and tried to grasp onto the surface, but all they did was make a loud scraping noise as he fell back down on his rear where he started.

   "Everything alright over there?" Jay called from a distance. "I heard a loud scraping noise!" Cole swung his muzzle around to see the soft gray tom standing a few pawsteps from the edge of the black rock.

   "Yeah, I'm alright," Cole answered. "I just slipped, nothing too big."

   "Thanks for not dying," Kai called sarcastically from the other side of the playground.

   Cole sighed and shook his head as he watched Jay and Kai go back to searching. The brown tom swiveled his head back to the slippery slope awaiting him, unsheathing his claws and bunching his muscles in a crouch. 

   With his hind legs he pushed himself off the ground in a flying leap and dug his claws along the sides of the structure, which were ridged and so much easier to grab a hold on. Sticking his tail straight out for balance, Cole sheathed his claws and pushed off the surface again, unsheathing his claws in midair and digging them back on the ridges as he made the next stretch. He made two more bounds and comfortably landed at the top of the slippery path, feeling accomplished.

   Cole relaxed and sheathed his claws. He felt air passing through under his pads and looked below him. On the ground below him small holes were littered all over the place in strange arrays. They were pretty big, but not big enough that one of Cole's massive, strong paws could get stuck in one or fall through. Even if they were, the spaces between the holes were wide enough anyway so Cole wouldn't have to keep walking over hole after hole after hole.

   He clambered up a flight of stairs (How do I still remember all of these human names for things?) and looked around, scanning the playground for a higher point to climb onto and get a bird's eye view. Aha! He found, rather coincidentally, a bright reddish roof not too far away from him and the slippery structure. He looked to either side of him. There just happened to be thin, straight walls lining the outside of the structure he currently stood on, all conveniently covered with the small holes.

   Cole easily shimmied up one wall and balanced himself on the thin edge at the top. Paw after paw he carefully tiptoed along the solid line laid out in front of him until he reached a pole. He unsheathed his claws and placed one paw on the pole, grasping it tightly. It was a little big for his paw, but it would have to do. He took his other front paw and grasped a section of pole above his first. Leisurely he hoisted himself up the pole just like he did with the slippery path, hearing the pitched sound of claws scraping against metal each time he pushed himself up. 

   At last he landed at the top of the pole and took one final leap up to the red roof, crouching at the edge with his tail hanging in the shape of a hook over the side. In just two bounds he made it to the peak of the roof in the very middle, and allowed his sight to spread across the landscape before him. The black valley beyond the playground looked even more massive from Cole's spot; he could see a small gray blob darting from place to place across the area. Cole's head swiveled to his right, where a larger orange form weaved in and out between poles and behind structures, his green eyes flashing back and forth and reflecting the moon's light.

   Finally Cole turned a little past his left and directed his amber gaze to the moon. The bright thin claw still hung high in the sky above the black valley. Another sudden breeze emerged and small stars descended and circled around the brown tom before dipping and trailing to a small crack in the ground a little ways off from the playground. Just as quickly as it appeared, the starry breeze vaporized out of Cole's sight.

   Cole carefully clambered down off the roof and back down to the tanbark. He allowed his pupils to expand as far as they could, waiting as they absorbed all the light available from around Cole. His eyes flicked around until he heard a soft voice call out to him.

   Cole.

   He glanced around him, trying to pinpoint where the source of the voice was. "Hello?" he called unconsciously.

   Cole.

   The voice grew clearer. Why does it sound so familiar? Cole wondered.

   Touch the Scythe.

   "Who... who's there?" Cole asked again. He heard voices and the sound of paws pounding in his direction. "Where are you?"

   Touch the Scythe, Cole.

   The soothing voice seemed to trail down to a glowing spark at Cole's paws. He bent down to sniff at it, and as his nose came in contact with it everything went white.

   "What is it this time?" Kai wondered aloud. He turned in the direction of Cole's yowls.

   Jay was already way ahead of Kai. "Cole, what's going on?"

   Kai grumbled under his breath as he picked his way out of the tanbark pit and followed Jay to where Cole stood. Or rather, crouched. His amber eyes were locked in an unblinking state, his pupils expanded over most of the surface, yet he was breathing steadily as if he was asleep. His nose was pressed to the ground, or so it seemed until Kai looked closer. There was a golden shard poking out of a crack in the ground, bright as the sun in broad daylight.

   "Jay," Kai whispered. "Come look at this." As Jay walked around Cole, the green-eyed tom gestured with a jerk of his muzzle at the golden shard Cole's nose was pressed against.

   "Whoa," Jay breathed, lowering his head to get a better look at it. "What is that thing?"

   "I dunno," Kai responded, enraptured by the golden glow of the object. "But that is the coolest thing I have ever seen."

   Cole blinked several times before finding himself in a bright valley. Short grass stretched out from under his paws to every direction. A lone tree stretched its old limbs up to the bright beacon in the pale blue sky. Small insects hovered around patches of tiny white flowers dotted here and there in the fresh green ocean. Wispy clouds drifted by overhead and flecked the sky with splotches of white fur. The air was fresh and misty, and the entire valley was immersed in warm, gentle sunlight.

   "This is too good to be true," Cole breathed, speaking to no one in particular. "This is like..." His voice trailed off as he relished the warm feeling that spread both inside and out.

   A flurry of stars appeared at the corner of Cole's vision and took the form of a lithe molly. Her pelt, although see-through, was easily seen as dark brown, and her long tail ended in a white tail-tip. She patiently and quietly padded over to Cole step by step, her movements smooth and fluent. Cole swiveled his head towards the starry cat and just about started crying.

   Hello again, my love.

   Cole's paws trembled furiously as he rushed towards the form of his mother. But before he could reach her, a gigantic shadow dropped upon the valley and blocked out the light. Lilly disappeared from under the shadow, leaving Cole collapsing in the spot where she once stood.

   The brown tom looked up and could make out the shape of giant, outstretched wings and a long, thick tail ending in a nearly spherical shape. His amber gaze flicked to the opposite side of the tail and noticed the sturdy neck that attached to a bulky reptilian head. A horrifying roar boomed in Cole's ears and resonated over the entire valley.

   Dragon.

   Cole shrieked and ran in all directions, searching for cover from the gigantic beast looming overhead. Unfortunately for him, there was no cover in sight - other than the lone tree. His heart racing, he scrambled over to the tree in an impressive number of bounds. He leaped onto the trunk and over the branches, crashing back down to the ground on all four paws and ducking on the other side of the sturdy bark.

   Cole panted profusely behind the trunk as the dragon swooped around and roared in the sky above. He willed himself to disappear into the ground and pleaded internally for the dream - no, the nightmare - to end.

   Then Master Wu's voice spoke in the back of his head. You must conquer your fears to gain the powers. Cole gulped, practiced a few breathing exercises, and forced his paws and legs to stop trembling.

   "Master Wu, don't fail me now," Cole whispered through gritted teeth, and took another deep breath before turning to the giant shadow overhead.

   "H-hey, you! Yes, I'm t-talking about you, you - you oversized lizard!" Cole screamed, his voice a little more high-pitched than he intended. He shook his head and tried again. "Over h-here!"

   Cole seemed to have caught the dragon's attention, and the beast swiveled its large head to face the earth-colored tom.

   Cole gulped. "Oh boy," he muttered before the dragon roared and rocks flew in the cat's direction. He barely dodged them in time and frantically searched the landscape for something to combat the dragon from a distance.

   Before Cole could move, the dragon let out another loud screech and spread its wings to their full length. It dived to the ground and right before it crashed, it swooped suddenly upwards and the club at the end of its tail collided with the ground. 

   "Whoa!" Cole exclaimed as cracks appeared in the ground and the ground below him split. The earth shook violently and nearly threw Cole off balance, but not before Cole leaped to a different patch of ground and dug his claws in deep.

   The massive dragon swooped back down with a screech and dove towards Cole. The cat's eyes darted to the left and located a patch of loose dirt. As the dragon's head came into better view, the silver spikes growing up its snout clearly visible, Cole swiped a paw at the dirt and knocked the loose sediments into the dragon's eyes.

   The dragon screamed and rushed back into the sky, knocking Cole backwards with its tail as it retreated. Cole rolled backwards from the impact and crashed into a boulder, groaning as his back collided with the hard surface. His body slid to the floor and he shakily struggled back to his paws. 

   Cole looked up at the dragon, which was hovering steadily over the ravaged valley, shaking the dirt out of its eyes. That had only bought him time; he'd have to find a different way to defeat it completely.

   His right front paw suddenly quivered violently and Cole collapsed back on the floor. His eyes opened and closed rapidly and his vision began to blur. I.. I can't... lose...

   The motivation to keep fighting brought the tom back to his paws again. He lightened the weight on his right paw, struggled his eyes back open, and inspected the dragon again. For the first time he noticed that one of the dragon's legs was clamped in something unnatural. He tilted his head at the roaring dragon and knew what to do.

   As the dragon shook its head for the final time and aimed its golden gaze at Cole, it let out a loud roar and dove back towards the brown tom. This time, instead of looking in his surroundings for something to distract the dragon, Cole waited for the dragon to get close enough, his eyes locked on the giant reptile's snout.

   The dragon came within ten pawsteps from Cole, and he leaped in a wide arc onto the dragon's snout, making sure to avoid the spikes that were mounted all over its face. Cole weaved between every spike that blocked his way as he landed and ran up the beast's head. The dragon seemed to know what was going on and growled, snapping its wings open and pulling up into the air.

   Cole quickly grasped onto a spike on the dragon's back with both his forepaws as the dragon swooped upwards, taking all his willpower to ignore the pain in his right paw. The dragon then began to spin, causing Cole to start feeling dizzy; but he closed his eyes tightly and prayed to the First Master for the dragon to start coming back down to earth.

   After a long while of spinning the dragon got tired of spinning and decided to stop flying completely. It fell backwards in midair and plummeted towards the ground. Cole's pelt began to press against the dragon's scales, realizing in a heartbeat what the dragon was doing. He gulped and slowly began to climb up the dragon's back, trying his best not to dig his claws into the dragon's thick hide so he wouldn't hurt it.

   At last Cole found his way over the dragon's shoulder and hoisted himself upwards and nearly fell off the dragon again. His eyes locked on a large metal trap that had clamped the dragon's right front talon, and he inched his way steadily towards the trap.

   He climbed up the dragon's talon and started banging his claws against the metal contraption, trying to find a weakness or a way to destroy it. The dragon seemed to have noticed that Cole was near its talon, and it immediately twisted around in midair and nearly threw the cat off again. It lowered and flew close to the ground towards the boulder where Cole lay before. Cole noticed where the dragon was headed, and inched back up the dragon's arm carefully until the boulder came in contact with the metal.

   Clang! The dragon screeched in pain as its forearm collided with the boulder, and it pulled back up into the air. Cole dangled from its arm for a while before regaining his balance and inspecting the trap even further. There were already many dents in the mass of metal, and yet it was still tightly attached to the talon. 

   Then Cole noticed a few little poles and leather straps holding the trap together. Cole grimaced as he tore the tough leather straps away from the trap and let them drop. The trap was still firm as ever. Then Cole grasped one of the poles and tried moving it around until he slid it out sideways and a section of the trap fell apart and down towards the ground. The dragon noticed what Cole was doing and started descending towards the ground again. Cole took no notice and continued pulling poles out sideways until there was only one left.

   He tried to slide the last one out and noticed that it was jammed by a dent in the trap. For the longest time he attempted to pull the rod out by force both ways, but it just wouldn't budge. Then he noticed that the dragon was diving towards the boulder again and yelped, attempting to scrabble up the dragon's arm again.

   The dragon seemed to understand that Cole was going to get hit at the rate it was diving, and with its left talon it gently plucked the cat from its right arm and held him away from the ground at a safe distance. Cole started to panic before realizing that the dragon was keeping him safe.

   With a loud CLANG! the trap collided with the boulder and slid off the dragon's right talon. It landed cautiously onto the ground and gingerly placed Cole on the ground next to it. Fortunately, the talon that was formerly encased in metal wasn't hurt nor broken, and it held no scratches or wounds from the trap. It was still flimsy but it would regain its mobility and work properly again.

   The dragon turned to Cole and its jaws widened in something similar to that of a smile. Its tongue lolled out and it behaved like that of a giant friendly dog, which scared Cole at first but gradually warmed him from ears to tail-tip. He took a step towards the dragon in relief before a wave of pain flashed through his paw and he collapsed to the floor. The beast stopped panting and sniffed Cole's paw before bounding off to the tree and plucking something off from it.

   The dragon pounded back, shaking the ground as it came, chewing something in his mouth before spitting it all out onto Cole's right paw. The smell of dragon's breath made Cole reel back, but was quickly covered by the sweet smell of fragrant berry juice. Cole noticed that it was the poultice the dragon had spat onto Cole's paw, and managed to look up and throw the dragon a nervous grin.

   "Maybe you're not so bad after all," Cole commented, and the dragon seemed to beam from snout to tail-tip. "Thank you."

   You should be thanking yourself, Lilly responded, her elegant form appearing from behind the dragon. She needed your help and you did just that. She's helping you in return.

   "M-mom?" Cole stuttered, unconsciously getting to his paws as he faced his mother. His right paw miraculously hurt no longer. "But - but I thought you died to dragons -"

   The dark brown cat chuckled. That was what you thought. She affectionately licked her son's face. Just because I died alongside dragons doesn't mean that I died to one. It was quite the opposite, actually. Sorrow reflected in her blue gaze before it quickly disappeared and was replaced by pride. I'm glad you passed the test.

   "But wait -" Cole started, exasperation in his voice.

   Butts are for sitting, Lilly commented with the same humor in Wu's voice. (Which was none.) You have bigger prey to catch, bigger enemies to defeat. 

   "But I just saw you again!" Cole cried. "Don't go! I miss you!"

   I miss you too. Lilly looked at her son with a mixture of pride and longing. But I must go. The Destiny's Bounty needs me. And Ninjago needs you.

   She touched her nose to Cole's and her scent drifted away to the breeze.

   Go and make me proud, she whispered as Cole's form disappeared from the spirit world and returned to the real world. Strongest Stone.

   "COLE! THERE'S AN EARTHQUAKE! ARE YOU GOING TO WAKE UP OR WHAT?!?!?!" Jay screamed at the stiffly standing Cole, whose nose was still pressed to the golden shard.

   It was true. Below their feet the ground was shaking violently. The sound of rattling metal originated from the playground, while wind seemed to fill their ears twice as much. There was so much wind. Kai's fur was flying in front of his eyes and he could hardly make out anything in front of him or below him.

   "Cole, come ON!" Kai yelled, struggling forward and attempting to grab Cole by the scruff and pull him backwards. Instead he just fell forward and trembled along with the ground.

   "Kai, are you going to get yourself killed?!" Jay screeched, darting over to Kai and pulling him up to his paws. "Cole isn't even anywhere close to being harmed, just look around him!"

   Kai squinted at Cole and noticed that Jay was right. Again. The ground where Cole was standing was unaffected; his fur was unruffled by the sudden earthquake that was going on around him.

   "Is that supposed to mean he's found Earth?" Kai yowled back at Jay over the noises.

   "I think so!" Jay yowled back. It was clearly obvious to both of them that they were right next to each other, but their voices seemed rather far off.

   Suddenly Cole jerked his head towards the shard and clenched his strong, sharp teeth on it. Slowly, he lifted his head, and the shard rose from the ground, revealing itself to not be a shard but in fact an entire weapon. A long, golden, patterned rod rose from the ground, and Cole shifted a little bit to the left. Attached to the rod was a long, curved golden blade. A dragon's head was molded on the thick part of the blade, breathing out what seemed to be chunks of earth and rock, trailing out to the tip of the blade.

   Kai recognized it as a Syeth, a Tall-Leg tool used for slicing plants and vegetation. What the Tall-Legs needed to cut the plants for, Kai wasn't sure. But it definitely looked big and sharp enough to be a weapon they could use to battle monsters or other Tall-Legs - or worst of all, cats.

   As soon as the Syeth was pulled out its golden color flowed into Cole's brown pelt and emanated a golden light onto his surroundings for a small while. When the light faded Cole's massive paws seemed to be absorbing the last bits and the gold faded from them last. All around them the earthquake gradually faded and the world settled to a peaceful quiet once more. The Syeth crumbled to dust and Cole gasped.

   "Cole?" Kai and Jay called, rushing over to the brown tom, who was panting, his eyes clamped tightly closed. "What happened?"

   "I... I feel... different," Cole panted after a long while. His eyes were still closed. "What... what happened?"

   "An earthquake happened for like thirty seconds!" Jay exclaimed, bouncing up and down. "And then you pulled out a large blade and crumbled it to dust, and -"

   "Wait... what?" Cole panted, and opened his eyes at last. There was a new light in them as he looked down at the ground where the "shard" once sat in the ground. "The Scythe's gone?"

  "The what?" Kai shouted, and Jay and Cole turned to Kai. "Isn't it called a Syeth?"

   "My mothe- Earth... she told me... that it was... called a... Scythe..." Cole panted tiredly.

   "Huh?" Kai sat down on his rear, tilting his head and trying to figure out what he missed when he first heard the object's name.

   "Never... nevermind," Cole gasped, sitting down on his rear too. Jay looked around awkwardly and sat down where he was.

   The three sat there, waiting for Cole to finish catching his breath and resting his eyes (they were wide open for a long time, Kai understood). Once Cole got back on his paws he looked ready.

   "Alright, team..." Cole's firm (and stronger) amber gaze swept over first Jay then Kai, and nodded to each.

   He grinned. "I'm ready. Let's head next to Lightning."

WOOHOO THAT TOOK WAY TOO LONG TO WRITE.

I guess it makes sense, since it's like 5,000-something words long.

But hey, it's worth it to get my point across!

Next chapter will be up after the next chapter of Fallen Star, that is for sure! (That gives you an idea of what the next one is going to be about, I'm sure haha.)

Now I need to go rest my tired fingers, so cya and stay safe!