"Run!" Krystal yelled as she reached for Sera's hand, leading them away from the gunmen that had spotted them. They took off, sprinting back into the thicker part of the forest away from the clearing filled with Venomian soldiers. From behind them, Krystal could hear the sound of weapons firing and feel the heat of plasma rounds as they flashed past them. She took a zigzagging path through the trees, trying to avoid most of the blaster rounds coming from behind them.

Sera let go of her hand and sprinted beside her, matching her step for step as they weaved through the woodlands around them. "Who are they? Are they from Venom as well?" The crimson vixen asked between breaths.

Krystal nodded in reply. She read the minds of their pursuers, realizing that they were a scouting patrol from the unknown planet. "They must be patrolling the forest, trying to keep us from finding out about their plans."

"Well it's too late for that," Sera pointed out. "We know too much."

The pair of vixens leaped over a fallen tree trunk and pressed onward, taking an indirect route towards the edge of the forest. Krystal channeled her sixth sense, searching for the Venomians that followed them. They could not be far behind, not only judging from their mental activity, but also from the stray lasers and plasma rounds coming from their blasters.

Suddenly Krystal detected mental activity ahead of them. More enemies are waiting for us! We are being led into a trap!

"Sis, what is it?" Clearly Sera picked up on her distress.

"There are more up ahead," the blue-furred vixen pointed towards a small opening in the trees. "They're cornering us!"

Sera glanced left and right hopelessly. There was nowhere else for them to go; the soldiers they had first run into had split up, flanking them on each side. Sera barely dodged an incoming blaster round as the gleaming ball of blue light soared over her head, just missing Krystal as well.

Another beam came from Krystal's side, striking the bark of a nearby tree. The wood of the tree caught fire on impact, slowly burning out as the fire spread. "We have no other choice," Krystal growled through gritted teeth. "We have to turn and fight!"

"Two against how many?" Sera questioned. "Several behind us, how many ahead?"

The telepath honed her powers ahead once again as she ran. One, two three... she counted the different mental signatures she detected. There were five in total, in addition to the five chasing them from behind. "Ten in total. See that clearing up ahead?"

"Sure, is that where we turn?"

Krystal nodded. The trees up ahead seemed to thin out slightly, where the upcoming Venomian soldiers lie in wait for them. "Attack them head on, then we'll deal with the ones behind us."

The Cerinians burst through the opening in the trees, landing in a small grassy clearing. Just as she predicted, five more enemies stood their ground ahead of them, each one armed and covered in Venomian military gear. Two apes wielded Venomian blasters, while the three lizards in front of them carried gleaming yellow energy swords, beams of plasmatic energy that protruded from metallic hilts.

Without time to think, the vixens burst into combat, taking the swordsmen head on while the gunmen attacked from the backlines. The first lizard slashed his sword at Sera, who shifted her weight onto one foot to evade and struck back with her rapier, thrusting it forward in a flurry of rapid attacks. Her blade hit its mark, scoring multiple stab wounds through the lizard's shirt and jacket.

Krystal darted forward, about to take on her first foe when the world seemed to come to a halt. Her telepathic senses triggered and came to life, revealing the thoughts of those around her. The blasters in the back; those should be my primary targets, the vixen assessed the oncoming battle. But I don't have a way through the front. Instead of taking out the gunmen, she came up with a different plan. I can see their thoughts... I know where they will shoot next.

As the world began to spin in motion once again, the vixen focused on the thoughts of the Venomian lizard in front of her. His mind betrayed his actions to her. He planned on swinging his laser sword diagonally across her chest. The ape behind him already had his blaster aimed at her as well.

Krystal's next movements came almost instinctively. As the sword of the green reptile came down, she parried the attack with her staff and gripped the lizard's arm with one hand, twisting and forcing it behind his back. With a swift motion, she rotated her enemy into an incoming ball of glowing blue plasma that fired from the nearby ape's weapon and shoved him to the ground.

A glance at Sera showed that she was handling herself just fine, dueling the third lizard as their weapons clashed, sending sparks into the air. The last marksman is about to shoot at her! Krystal read the ape's mind, knowing that he was looking for an opportunity where he could get a clear shot. Just when his mind revealed that he had an opening to fire, Krystal took off.

The ape pulled the trigger of his blaster and a ball of plasma fired from it. Before it reached Sera, Krystal blocked the blast with her staff, feeling the heat from the plasma melting into her weapon. Instantly she released her grip and let her damaged weapon fall to the ground and threw a kick at the shooter before he could get a second shot, knocking him into a nearby tree where he fell, unconscious.

Turning around, the vixen looked for her friend, who had already defeated the last of the swordsmen. Sera looked on at her friend in shock. "Wow, how did you do that? It's like you knew when they when they were going to shoot! You reacted instantly, no, even before they made their moves!"

"Telepathy, no time to explain," Krystal immediately began searching the forest for mental traces of the Venomians they had been running from. But what Sera told her was right; she had acted on her enemy's moves before she could even process them. It felt like her telepathic powers prompted her to act in the way she did, as if it was pure instinct.

Suddenly, a round yellow orb rolled its way into the clearing. The glowing ball of light was no larger than Krystal's fist, tumbling across the grass until it settled in the middle of the open space.

"What's that?" Sera asked, taking a small step towards it cautiously.

Before Krystal could answer properly, she sensed the mental trace of the five Venomians chasing them before. They had stopped for some reason, taking shelter behind the trees around her. It's a bomb!

"Sera, get back!" Quickly the vixen reached for her friend, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her back before the grenade exploded with a bang. Dirt and grass from the surrounding area were thrown up into the air and the forest rumbled around Krystal as she was thrown from the impact of the blast.

She hit the ground with a jolt and her senses went numb. As she opened her eyes, she found that her vision blurred, and every sound around her rang in her ears. She couldn't feel anything except for the forest floor beneath her. Her body went into shock from the explosion, and she was helpless to defend herself as five figures appeared from the thick of the dust and smoke.

Where is Sera? I have to get up, we need to get out of here! Thoughts raced through Krystal's mind as her vision slowly cleared enough to see the Venomian ape and four lizard soldiers approach her. The vixen fought to turn her head to the side and managed to find Sera, who appeared to be in no better condition. She had only picked up minor wounds but was discombobulated from the impact.

Krystal struggled again to lift herself, but her muscles soon gave out and she fell limp to the ground. Her heart pounded in her chest as the ape neared her, coming so close that his boots stood just beside where her head lay. She fixed her eyes upward to look at her pursuer, but could see nothing past the red visor covering his eyes. The vixen closed her eyes and feared the worst, when a sound broke the numbing silence around her. It sounded like a soft whistle as a thin object sliced through the air, flying past Krystal and into the chest of one of the lizards. The rod impaled him, penetrating through his jacket and shirt and through the bones in his chest.

The Venomian soldier collapsed to the ground in an instant as blood welled from his wound. Krystal observed the weapon more closely, realizing that it was an arrow with thin, brown feathers at its end. She recognized the arrow; it was Cerinian made.

"Spread out! Find them!" The ape from Venom growled, pointing back into the trees. He turned again towards Krystal when another arrow fired from the thickness of the trees, taking out another of the lizards.

Before they could react further, three shapes covered in Cerinian armor burst out from among the trees and engaged them in battle. The first, Krystal noticed, was a tall feline with dark fur and long, black hair. He threw himself at the ape leading the foreign soldiers, combating his laser sword with a durable sword of his own. The weapon had a curved blade, which must have been a talwar used by some of the Cerinian guard.

A female feline followed, ambushing one of the lizards with a rapid volley of arrows fired from her bow before sliding across the ground and sweeping his feet out from under him with her legs. Her reddish fur gleamed in the filtering sunlight, along with her longer, red hair.

The third attacker came for the last Venomian soldier. The lizard drew his laser sword, but was no match from the oncoming assault. His attacker was a ring-tailed raccoon, wielding two rods with metallic blades hooking from their ends, known as kamas. The coon flailed his weapons skillfully, forcing the lizard quickly into submission before he was slashed across the chest.

The two newcomers who had taken out their targets approached Krystal and Sera, while the male feline chased the remaining Venomian ape deeper into the woods. "Go, return to your commanders! Warn them what happens when you mess with the Cerinian guard!" He called after him, stopping his pursuit as the ape fled deeper into the trees.

"Krystal, are you alright?" The voice came from the young, female feline, who had reached down to help the vixen get to her feet.

Krystal slowly hauled herself up with the cat's help as the strength in her limbs returned to her. She had not obtained many serious wounds from out of range of the explosion radius, but the impact had sent her flying. The only injuries she gained were some cuts and scrapes from the rough forest floor.

"Savannah," the blue vixen stumbled, surprised to find her friend out in the forest with her. She turned to the others and recognized them right away once she regained her full vision. "Atticus, and Fero," she murmured to the feline and the raccoon, respectively. "What are you doing here?"

Fero helped Sera wake up and get to her feet, allowing her to lean on his shoulder as she regained her shocked senses as well. He said nothing, allowing Atticus to speak for them.

"The real question," the feline narrowed his eyes, "is what are you doing here? The forest is off limits, even for you, the King's daughter. This is a matter for the Cerinian army, so stay out of this!"

Krystal didn't answer immediately. She stared down at her feet in guilt, having to answer to her friends after disobeying orders. Atticus, Savannah, and Fero were part of the Cerinian military, so they had every right to be there. Savannah was still in training, the same age as Krystal and Sera, but her brother Atticus was four years older. He was something of a prodigy, taking on training at a young age and becoming a full member of the Cerinian army very early. Fero, on the other hand, was only eighteen years of age, still working to earn his full place among the Cerinian ranks.

"We heard there was trouble out here," Sera answered as she regained her full strength, taking her place by Krystal's side. "So we came to investigate and find out what was going on. We didn't come looking for trouble..."

"Well, it looks like you've found it," the older feline retorted.

Savannah cut her older brother off from saying any more. "Atticus, please," she pleaded, somewhat timid in front of her elder sibling, "what matters is that they are safe." Turning to address Krystal and Sera, she added, "the Cerinian army has been monitoring from a distance, we've been waiting before we made such a dangerous and close approach."

"Actually, we only came out here because we heard that you were missing," Fero confessed. "Your father was worried, and we wanted to come find you before you got into anything serious."

Sera shook off the dirt covering her, shaking her head back and forth to clear it. She found her rapier nearby and picked it up, storing it back in the sheath across her waist. "I think we've actually found out something important. We know where they're from, and why they're here."

"Where who's from? And why who's here?" Atticus tilted his head, giving a questioning look.

"The armies of planet Venom," Krystal finally spoke up as she paced toward the limp body of a soldier and reached for the silver hilt in his hand. She took the object into her own hands, staring it up and down until she located a small button on its side. "They are here for one thing," she murmured, turning to face the others.

"And what is that, Krystal?" Savannah asked, fear and worry filling her gaze.

Krystal pressed the button on the metal hilt, activating the weapon and a glimmering, yellow blade of energy emerged from an opening at one end. The young vixen twirled her newfound weapon before pressing the button again, deactivating it. "Invasion. They've come to take over our planet."

Savannah gasped, and the others gave her looks of severe concern.

"In that case, you'd better take whatever information you know back to your father," Fero suggested. "You know more than any of the soldiers or guards, surely what you know could help us decide what to do next."

"He's right," Sera nodded. "If you guys haven't learned anything yet, then we know more than you do."

Krystal was about to agree when she thought she heard movement in the surrounding trees. She closed her eyes and focused her mind, searching for traces of mental activity. "We need to get out of here," the vixen urged, "we've got more company coming."

"More? Do you sense them?" Sera asked.

The vixen nodded. "Yes, they will be here in a matter of minutes."

"Then we have no time to lose, let's get moving," Atticus took the lead as the five companions readied themselves and took off, sprinting out of the clearing and back into the tree coverage once again.

Sera and Krystal followed closely behind him, allowing Fero and Savannah to take the rear. "Can you tell how many?" The red-furred vixen probed as they ran onward, heading for the forest border.

Krystal channeled her telepathic powers, attempting to once again hone in on the signal she detected earlier. Sifting through individual thoughts, she identified those of their pursuers. "It feels like we are losing them. There must be several behind us, maybe six or seven?" She took some more time to pick at their thoughts as she followed her friends, maneuvering through the trees with ease. "But it seems like they gave up... unless..."

"Unless what?"

Finally, one of the Venomians thoughts confirmed what Krystal suspected. "Unless it's another trap!"

Without warning, multitudes of plasma rounds began raining down from the treetops as marksmen fired their blasters and rifles from above. The Venomian soldiers had hidden themselves from sight, but revealed themselves as the unsuspecting Cerinians came into range. Krystal hadn't even detected them with her sixth sense, as she was distracted with the enemies behind her. She and her friends had no choice but to weave their way among the trees as they avoided the glowing balls of plasma coming from above.

"They're above us!" Atticus called from the front of the group. "They must be patrolling these parts of the forest!"

"Yeah, no kidding!" Fero growled.

"Get behind a tree!" Savannah suggested. "We can't keep this up forever, someone is going to get hit!"

Between a break in the blaster fire, the Cerinians spread out and pressed their backs against various trees in a cluster, out of range of the endless gun volleys. Each one took a separate shelter, temporarily relieved from running and dodging as they caught their breaths.

We are truly out of their line of sight, Krystal confirmed from the thoughts she detected from the Venomian marksmen. I wonder how long it will take them to readjust? She popped her head out from behind her shelter and barely ducked in time to avoid several plasma rounds, missing her for another tree farther back. Its bark blackened and charred on contact, catching a small flame before the plasma faded and the fire went out.

Sera, Fero, Savannah, Atticus, the vixen scanned each of her companions' minds, affirming that they were all safe as well. They were all feeling anxious and exhausted from their pursuit, each taking shelter nearby. Sera was the closest, with Savannah, Fero, and Atticus taking refuge closer toward the forest's edge. They were not far away now, only needing to pass the next several waves of gunners before safely making their way out.

Suddenly a thought from a nearby marksman caught her mind's eye. Krystal honed in on it, until she realized that the Venomian was slowly making his way toward a clear shot on Sera. The ape nearly had her in his sights, and Krystal could sense his focus and concentration as he readied his finger to pull the trigger on his weapon.

Just then, the shot was fired and a ball of plasma fired from the tree above, hurtling toward Sera. Krystal raced from the cover of her tree and drew the laser sword she had picked up. Time seemed to slow down as she pressed the button on the hilt and the glowing yellow blade emerged once again. As the plasma round edged its way toward Sera, she braced herself before Krystal intercepted it. The round clashed against the blade of her weapon and reflected off it, tearing through the treetops and back towards the shooter, who met his own round in surprise as it burned through his clothing and into his chest. The ape fell right out of the tree and down to the ground.

Time began to move once again in motion, as Krystal and Sera glanced at each other without saying a word.

"Now's our chance, run for it!" Atticus called out as he dashed from his cover and the others followed.

Krystal and Sera took off together from the same location, joining back up with Fero and Savannah as they tailed him. Together the Cerinians weaved their way through the remaining trees, guided by the increasing light as the forest dispersed ahead of them.

The thoughts of a dozen Venomian soldiers entered Krystal's mind as she scanned them, honing in on where each one was targeting. She immediately sensed a lizard with his eyes on Fero. He was in a tree flanking them from the left side, the vixen detected. Just when she read his thought to pull the trigger, she drew her laser sword up to deflect the plasma round aimed at Fero and reflected it back at him.

Several enemies aimed at her, but she avoided their fire, dodging around some and reflecting others back. One Venomian lizard leaped out from the treetops, hoping to catch Krystal off guard with an aerial attack, but she had seen his thoughts in her mind first. She knew when and where he was landing, and thrust her shining blade through his shoulder before he landed on the ground in a slump, too injured to land properly. The scaly warrior was completely caught by surprise, thinking he had the advantage in the attack.

"Krystal, come on!" The vixen was so focused on repelling her foe's attacks that she barely heard Sera calling her name. She and the others had reached the edge of the forest safely and were waiting on her to follow before they left the woods completely.

The blue-furred vixen turned and raced for the border, nearly tripping on the roots of a tree as she burst forward into the light, finally leaving the forest behind her. She continued on as the last thin layers of trees gave way to open grasslands and blue skies, and the dangers facing her in the forest seemed to fade away into the darkness of the trees behind her.

Gasping for breath, the vixen stopped running once she had caught up to the others, who were resting at the top of a hill overlooking the forest entrance. Sera and Savannah sat in the short grass, catching their breaths while Fero and Atticus stood gazing back at the forest as if expecting hordes of Venomian soldiers to come flooding out of the trees.

"About time you joined us," Atticus rolled his eyes. "I thought we were going to have to leave you back there while we went on without you."

"That's a little harsh," Savannah gave her brother a disapproving look as she and Sera rose to their feet. "Give Krystal a break, she probably saved Sera's life! Did you see her block that shot?"

"Yea, that was awesome!" Fero laughed. "How did you do that, anyway? When did you learn how to deflect things out of the air?"

Krystal looked down at her hands, and again at the new weapon she had taken from the Venomians. She herself could barely explain it; everything seemed to happen almost out of reflex. As soon as she detected the thought with her sixth sense, her body rushed to act on it out of impulse.

"I... I don't really know," she admitted. "It's my sixth sense, my telepathy. I read the shooter's mind, and I knew."

"Knew what?" Atticus probed, looking at her with a longing desire to understand what she meant.

"I could see where he was aiming... I knew when he would pull the trigger before he even could," Krystal explained. "The response, well... It was more like an instinct. I just reacted, that's all."

Atticus pondered on what she told him as he reached behind him and lowered his talwar into the sheath strapped across his back. The older feline was always so inquisitive, so interested in learning all that he could and somehow so wise beyond his youth. It was no surprise that he was so curious about Krystal's gift.

"Well done Krystal," Savannah gave her a smile as she placed her bow over her shoulder and her remaining arrows in the quiver on her back.

Fero followed suit, flipping his kamas and forcing their blades to retract before storing them in the two holsters on his waist.

"We need to get out of here," Atticus warned. "The enemy is keeping to the forest for now, but they may try to follow us. Besides," he added with a glare at Krystal and Sera, "you two had better be getting home. Your parents won't be happy to hear where you've been."

Krystal wanted to snap back at him, but decided against it. The last thing she needed was to get into more trouble. Instead she followed behind Atticus, Savannah, and Fero with Sera at her side as they began the trek back home.

The blue vixen suddenly realized how quiet her best friend had been. Sera had hardly spoken since they left the forest, which was oddly surprising, especially for her.

"Hey, sis," Krystal nudged her friend lightly as they walked along, "are you alright? You've hardly said a word since we escaped the forest..." Her face twisted with worry. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Sera trudged along beside her, staring down at her feet. She looked as if deep in thought, but still wouldn't reveal what was troubling her. She looked up at Krystal, meeting her eyes for a moment and hesitating before refusing to speak up.

"Don't make me have to read your mind," Krystal reminded her about her sixth sense. "You can't hide anything from me, Sera." She gave her friend a stern look. Whatever was troubling her, she needed to find out. If Sera wasn't going to tell her, she would find out anyway.

The others remained mostly silent, occasionally making light conversation and glancing back to see if Krystal and Sera were still following them. After spacing themselves out from the rest of the group, Sera finally spoke up.

"I'm not hurt or anything, nothing serious... But I just can't stop thinking about how you saved my life... I didn't even see the shot coming, and you came in out of nowhere and deflected it. You're so strong, Krystal..."

This confused the blue-furred vixen. Why was her fiend so concerned about how she had been saved? "What does that even matter? You would have done the same for me," she encouraged. "You're strong too Sera, I know it."

Sera blinked at Krystal and her shoulders slumped. "You're right, I would have done the same for you... If I could have..."

A shallow stream passed beside them, quickly curving sideways so that the vixens had to step across it to continue onward. Krystal surveyed her surroundings, realizing that the road home was still long and the day was starting to grow darker. The sun was slowly descending in the sky, and she wondered if they would make it back home before dark.

"What do you mean, if you could have?" The words echoed in Krystal's mind. She glimpsed into Sera's thoughts and found the reason for her worry surfacing, and the look she was given confirmed that she had found out why.

Sera sighed deeply. "I knew you'd find it before I could tell you. It's just something my father said during our training earlier. He is the captain of the Royal Guard, and it is his duty to protect and defend the King and queen, even with his life if necessary..."

"And you feel the same way about me," Krystal finished her friend's thought for her. "You want to live up to your father's reputation and follow in his footsteps."

The crimson vixen nodded. "As the daughter of the captain of the guard, that role will be passed down to me." She paused, then suddenly words started spilling out of her mouth. "But it feels like I'll never be the guard my father is! Look at what happened today! It should have been me saving you, but instead I was almost killed and you had to protect me."

Krystal was taken aback by her best friend's reaction. To her, it didn't matter who saved whose life, all that mattered was that they were both safe. She desperately wanted to tell Sera how she felt, but as she searched for the right words, she couldn't find them. Instead she remained silent as Sera continued.

"That's how it's always been... Every time we go and get into trouble, you end out as the hero. You're the one who saves the day. Not just for me, but everyone," she murmured, looking on at the trio walking ahead of them. "Even for Atticus, Savannah, and Fero... The way you fought, the way you impressed them... Sometimes I wish that it could be me, instead."

Krystal leaned over and rested her arm over Sera's shoulders. "Don't you worry, sis," she encouraged, again referring to her as a sister, "I have a feeling that you will be the greatest the Royal Guard has ever seen. I'm sure you will make your father- and your mother- proud."

The telepath hesitated to mention Sera's mother in front of her. One of the Royal Guard like her father, Sera's mother died giving birth to their only child. Since then, she was rarely spoken of, as the subject generated so much grief among Sera and her father. Nonetheless, Krystal felt like this was a time to mention her. She truly felt like Sera would make a noble warrior, one to make both of her parents proud to have her as a daughter.

"Thanks, sis," the red-furred vixen was warmed by her friend's praise. Her shoulders raised slightly, and her gloomy look turned slowly into a smile. "Do you really think so?" She asked, still somewhat unsure of herself. "How do you know?"

Krystal gave her friend a light nudge and a smile. "Of course, I'm sure! When have I ever been wrong?" She winked playfully. "Come on, let's go catch up with the others."