Shadepelt is standing over the edge of a deep hole. The edges look like they crumbled away, which may contribute to the reason why the she-cat keeps a wide distance between her and the black pit.

"He fell down there," the black-furred cat was explaining. "And he just screamed... then it all stopped."

Lionshine gave a slow nod, her heart pounding as she thought of her brother. "Well, I have a lot of caving experience from a Moon expedition that I captained, as well as some trips in my free time... so I should probably go down."

Greenface walks toward them from the ship, carrying a bundle of supplies. He drops it in the center of the talking cats.

"There's only enough rope for two cats who are lightweights to go down," he explained. "I calculated it with—"

"Shut up... we don't care about your maths," Shadepelt hissed, her eyes narrowing at the white-furred tom. Greenface gave a slow nod and backed up, sitting down next to Pebblepounce. "Anyway... I was the only one to see him fall, so I think I should go down too."

Lionshine made a disgusted face. "I don't want to go down with you!" she cried out. "I'd rather go with Greenface, and he'd probably blow chunks on me halfway down."

"Offensive," Greenface muttered, but his words were drowned out.

"Well, I doubt you'd like to be the reason your brother dies, so let's just get in these stupid suits and rescue that stupid cat!" Her mew rang through the headsets for a moment before Lionshine gave a quick nod, swallowing her pride and hopping into the pile of ropes.

They quickly harness up, with Lionshine teaching Shadepelt how to descend and ascend with various commands. Pebblepounce volunteers to be the belay slave and also gets hooked up.

"Are you ready?" Shadepelt meowed brightly.

Lionshine rolled her eyes. "Belay?" she called to Pebblepounce, who was standing a few tree-lengths away from the edge of the hole, holding a rope with his paws.

"What?" he called back, squinting at them.

The golden-furred she-cat gritted her teeth together. "Just go!" she called back. 

Pebblepounce, bewildered by the shout, lets go of the rope, and the two she-cats fly backwards, tumbling down into the endless black.

Pebblepounce turned to Greenface. "Uh, did I do it right?"

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the pit...

Lionshine let out a loud cough as she struggled to the top of the rubble, a layer of dust rising out of the rocks. She glanced upward, but the Mercury sky wasn't visible from the murky darkness. "Shadepelt?" she called out, her eyes slowly adjusting to the light. "Shadepelt!"

The black she-cat stumbles from above, her harness torn and scratches visible on the outer layer of her suit. She joins Lionshine on the tunnel floor.

"There's a tunnel over here," the golden she-cat rasped, her voice hoarse from inhaling dust. She gave a kick to her oxygen filter, which was located on the neck of her suit. "Let's go into it."

Ignoring the obviously dangerous decision, Shadepelt nodded and started padding in the general direction of the downward sloping. Her paws slipped on a wet patch of ground, and the she-cat rolled down for a few heartbeats before springing back up.

Lionshine followed, managing evade any stumbles. She did, though, walk excruciatingly slowly, claws digging into the hard ground with every step. Her amber gaze shot up from the ground as Shadepelt mewed impatiently a few fox-lengths ahead, "Hurry up! Your brother may be dying this moment!"

The golden-furred captain shuddered as she immediately pulled her claws out and ran to Shadepelt, but not before bumping into a few walls. "I wish there's light in this wretched tunnel," she grumbled, beginning to shake her fur out before realizing she was in a spacesuit. Shadepelt rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to presumably snap a reply, but no sound came out. Yet, her mouth remained open.

Lionshine's ear twitched as she turned to regard the she-cat, who was staring at something ahead. "What's the matter now?"

"There's light ahead!" 

Shadepelt took off, taking long but cautious strides through the tunnel, tail signalling for Lionshine to follow her once more. 

"You'd think I'd be the amateur engineer that failed her CATNASA entry exam, not the Project Leader," Lionshine muttered before catching up to the she-cat ahead, who had suddenly stopped. "I did wonder how I could see her when I looked at her before, I suppose."

"Do you care about your brother or not?"

"Of course—" Lionshine broke off, eyes widening as she took in the scene in front of her. In the distance stood a village of some sort. Little blue blobs moved around large, bright houses that appeared to be woven out of exotic plants, and wisps of brilliant light were hovering around.

Shadepelt narrowed her eyes. "If anyone has seen where Alderwood went, it's them. Go and get Pebblepounce. I'll meet you here."

Lionshine nodded and bolted back in the direction they came.

Written mostly by Ember; completed by Saph, changed the weird American words to better ones :3 🍩✨