"Thunder," Shadow meowed to Scales, Tungsten, and Ink. They let go of us, and slithered to the middle of the triangle that the three trees were making. me, Pixels, and Ash fell belly-first onto the soft dark grass with a soft thud! we then stood up, beginning to collect ourselves. However, Ash was a bit slower to collect himself because of whatever it was that was scaring them. 

"We will wait until you come back ssssssso we get what your Alpha promissssssed ussss." She nodded. 

"Let's go!" Pixels exclaimed and I had a feeling that part of her was a bit happy to finally not be trapped in this place, and the other part of her had a giddy fear of the unknown to me and her that would soon be known. 

I had that strange feeling of giddy fear. Fear, something I rarely experienced, or so I thought. Or perhaps it wasn't fear spefically, maybe anxiety was more accurate at this moment. 

"If you insist..." Shadow quickly added, "But we could just hide instead." 

That seemed out of her character. I thought, she must be so scared. They must all be. But what are they so scared of? What could a pack of wild cats that seek such a deep revenge on me-past me-be afraid of...? 

"We'll be fine I'm sure," I began, "I'll protect you. But I kind of want to know what we are going to be dealing with here." 

Shadow shuddered, "You will wish you never met her." 

"Yes, that whole thing, save me the speech. Who is this 'she' you are talking about?" 

I thought I saw her breathing quicken, "She calls herself 'Thunderblood'. She is the leader of a pack. She's so evil. She's almost as bad as Wildfire was." 

I thought about what she had said, Shadow is referring to Wildfire as someone else, because she sees that I have changed. And the main part is her name. Not how evil she is, that's hardly important right now. Her name is 'Thunderblood', and there are very few species that have names with two words as one. Who is this 'Thunderblood', and why would she keep visiting this pack? 

I blinked swiftly, "Like Pixels said, 'Let's go'." There was this familiar voice in my head yelling, Come on! Don't you want to know who this creature is?! Just go! You need to know! And that voice wasn't Wildfire, it was something we all have. 

Curiosity. 

And my curiosity is a bit crazy. 

Me and Pixels lead the way, while Shadow and Ash trailed a comfortable distance behind us. "Okay guys," I said, "we have to be as sneaky as possible so we can get an idea of the situation we're going to face. Nonetheless, we still have to be swift. Swifter than a shot from a Swiftclaw. Which-Checkers-is very fast." 

We quietly and quickly walked towards the back of the camp, as Ash told me and Pixels where the back of camp actually was. 

*** 

I kept a stealthy stance as we walked next to Alpha's den, pressing our pelts that had a few bits of bramble on them from not having to clean ourselves in a bit. 

We swiftly and silently ran to the inside of Alpha's den for it had the perfect amount of darkness that would conceal us perfectly-if there were such a thing as perfection here. 

The only thing I could smell was fear that weaved through the air, then according to my senses there was something-someone else, but I couldn't pinpoint their species. Whoever this Thunderblood was, she wasn't a cat. I knew that much for sure. 

I couldn't see them properly since we were engulfed in almost complete darkness. 

The den was somewhat darker than it had been since the last time I was here. Perhaps it may be night?  I wondered, placing my front paws in a comfortable position, just sitting there happy to find that their conversations could reach my ears. It seemed like the others could hear them at well, based on the way they were twitching their ears and whiskers. 

I listened in, "Pack! Calm down!" It was Alpha, "Gather yourselves at once!" With that, her pack 'gathered themselves'. 

There was a new voice that I didn't recognize, it was female her words slipped off her tongue like a drop of venom sliding down a long deadly fang, "Dear Alpha, we want your best packmates." 

"Well you could just go out looking for some of your species-" Alpha began, then the female's voice shattered like glass, sounding like she was absolutely out of her mind, "Who do you think you are Alpha!? Talking down to me as if I'm a mouse in the grass! You're the mouse! And I'm a savage wolf,  drool dripping from my jaws, just waiting for the perfect time to pounce!" 

"I'm sorry, Thunderblood, but there is no way you're taking any of us." So that's Thunderblood. Well Thunderblood's voice anyways. "But I am Mrs. Alpha!!!!" 

"Why do you keep doing this?" 

"Because I feel like it!" 

"That's not a good reason for anything," Alpha said coolly. 

"Thanks, I'll take that into consideration when I kill you." 

My whiskers. That just got dark. But I think it was already dark... 

"You're not laying a single paw on me or my pack," she had a slight snarl in her voice this time. 

I heard Thuderblood snarl back, and-was that a slash I had heard? Next there was a painful yelp that came from Alpha. I couldn't just sit there much longer. I needed to see what was going on, and I hated others in pain. That too. 

Her voice was back to it's original calmness, "So, what do you think? I take that one who was just a kitten when I saw her. What was it? 'Fierce'? The one with the pretty random checkered fur and whiskers." 

Checkered fur, checkered whiskers... Oh... Checkers. Technically 'Shadow', but I like Checkers. That's Checkers kit-name, 'Fierce'. 

Alpha was silent for a moment then laughed-and I thought that perhaps it was a bit of a nervous laugh-"Let me ask you the same question you asked me, who do you think you are?" 

Thunderblood laughed too, but she sounded more like a complete lunatic rather than just being nervous. I was sure this bloodthirsty creature's mind was not thinking of being afraid. I knew this animal wanted fear from others. 

"I'm the great Thunderblood with my pack, 'Darkfang'!" After she empathized 'Darkfang' there were more voices now, just as slick as hers chanting over and over again "Darkfang! Darkfang! Darkfang!" 

An idea popped into my head, I have an idea. Kind of stupid, as usual. And Pixels is probably gonna be really mad at me when she figures it out. But I'm gonna do it anyways. Sorry Pixels. 

I kept my voice as quiet as I possibly could, barley even hearing the sound of my own voice, "Pixels, I have a feeling that we are going to be here for awhile. And I'm sure you all are starting to have hunger gnaw at your tummies, so all three of you go hunt, while I keep listening, and tell you all about what you missed when you come back, okay?" 

I could see Pixels head tilt faintly to the side for a second, making my heart beat race a little because I didn't exactly want to go behind her back-pretty much literally and figuratively, of course-but I needed them to get away so they would be safe. It was also partly for my stupid, risky plan to work properly. No distractions.  

"You'd better stop lollygagging, and start hunting," I whispered. 

She seemed a bit unsure, "I guess... But if anything goes wrong, you promise to get our attention so we can know where you are at, and if you're in trouble?" 

I nodded, "Yes." 

"No, you have to promise it. Promise you won't get in trouble." 

I didn't want to have to lie, but maybe she'd understand one day why I lied. It was to help this vengeful pack that wanted to kill me. And to ease my curiosity. But that was definitely last on the list. But it didn't exactly feel that way. 

"I promise I won't get into trouble, Pixels," I lied. 

"Okay... I'll see you not in trouble soon then..." 

"Yes, yes. Now goodbye." 

Shadow and Ash didn't have to be told twice, as they walked as fast as they could without making a sound, and Pixels was soon behind them. 

I resisted the urge to lean out of the cave, and watch them leave. But I knew if I did this, they'd probably see me. The thing that I wanted most in the world at this time was the element of surprise. 

So instead of watching my allies-or so I hoped they were my allies-I listened until their soft crunching beneath their paws was gone, and then I waited another minute after that to make sure they were gone and I could begin the next parts of my plan. 

It isn't very nice to lie to your frien-allies. Allies can help you later when you expect, when you least expect, and even when they aren't even there. Even these days in this cave, on this mountain, I still think, 'What would Pixels do here?' I still even think about my long lost ally, Hazel who had walked into a fire and never came out. I think, 'What would Hazel think about this situation?' And I often find myself in this mountain where I write all about my life what any of my allies-or even what my enimies-would think about the stupid predicament I put myself in right now as I write these words. 

But sometimes it is necessary to lie in life. If you're in a Library, finding some good books to read, and some crazy person comes in, and hold you there as a hostage, you could lie. 

If the crazy person asks you, 'Is there anymore people behind those doors?' You might say, 'Absolutely not. There is no one back there.' This would be to protect the people who lay behind those doors so they don't end up as hostages too, or maybe worse later. 

But at this time, I lied so I could get away with my plan. And by now you must be wondering, 'What is your plan?' Or something along the lines of that. 

Instead of explaining my plan to you, I'll just write what happened. And I'll say when my plan was done. 

I creeped as sneakily as I could out of that cave, and went straight for the trees that weren't very hard to find at all because there were so many blocking whatever light the nightsky gave. 

It seemed that Thunderblood and the rest of her pack had been done chanting. I listened more as I started to get closer, and closer to them. It was fairly easy because I didn't have to hide my scent for all of the fear-scents coming from Alpha's pack. 

"Athetic." I assumed Thunderblood had said, "Pathetic." 

"You have nothing to say. Since you have nothing more to say, I'd love it if you would please bring the kitten to me with no more words, just in silence as you all are right now." I looked to where her voice was coming from without showing my face too much. 

Luckily, since my fur was-and still is-black, I camouflaged really well with the forest. I was just another eerie shadow of The Dark Forest. 

"I'll ask once more. And only once more. Give me the kitten." 

I was close, but not close enough to see what 'Darkfang' looked like. 

"Give her! And she'll be apart of my glorious kingdom!" 

I stopped dead in my tracks. Kingdom. There is only one animal species that calls their pack a 'kingdom'. 

"Give us Feirce! She will be a great addition to Darkfang!" 

I knew what they were.  

Foxes.