Shadepelt quickly lets out a yelp after watching her crewmate drift away, the fur along her spine leaping up.

"I'll go out and save him," the she-cat announced boldly, darting toward the supply closet. "Lionshine, you pilot the ship!" She dived into the suits, searching for her own.

"Yeah, because I'm totally not the pilot," muttered Lionshine, rolling her eyes. "Whatever." She took the wheel, paws sliding across the control panel in a complex pattern. Alderwood looked mesmerized as he stumbled into the room with a catmint stem sticking out of his ear.

Shadepelt ignored the golden she-cat, her green eyes bright as she pressed a few buttons on the airlock, slipping through the doors.

Alderwood, who had fallen asleep in a suit, turns toward where the noise was emitted. He stumbles toward it, barely making it through the doors as Shadepelt nervously calls out to the computer. The air pressure adjusts, and before the she-cat can notice his presence, the doors to space open.

Shadepelt, breathing heavily into her microphone, snapped a tether into place. Behind her, Alderwood grabs onto the rope as she began to steer with the jetpack, travelling toward Pebblepounce's floating body. The spacecraft barreled  forward, Lionshine still amping up the speed. 

"Alright," the black she-cat panted. "I'm coming for you, Pebblepounce." All she heard in response is muffled static—Alderwood didn't know how to work the radio.

The brown tom followed her, holding onto her tether and staring into space with an expression of wonder.

Shadepelt, having to duck to avoid hitting chunks of rock inside of the planet's atmosphere, peers anxiously through the thick, red-colored air. Her heart hammering in her chest, she finally spots Pebblepounce's dangling form. 

"Help."

The tom's whisper was barely audible through the recording system, but both Alderwood and Shadepelt can hear it echoing in their ears. The black she-cat shuddered slightly as she extended her paws, removing them from the controls of the jetpack.

Alderwood let out a gasp, the noise barely being picked up by the radio, as he noticed a dark shape in the distance. "Is that a storm?" he wondered aloud, though Shadepelt didn't notice. He yelped as the dark form suddenly grew larger; his paws jerked on Shadepelt's tether, which was still in between his paws.

Shadepelt jolts backwards, the jetpack sputtering off for a moment as she is moved backwards. A black rock dances over her head—she was narrowly missed by an asteroid—but Shadepelt is only concerned with the tom that is floating away from her.

"Mouse dung!" she spat into the microphone, glancing over her shoulder only to see Alderwood's dreamy eyes staring at the black form in the distance. "I almost had him! Over."

Alderwood glanced back at her. "What?" he asked, tilting his head. "I didn't catch that..."

Shadepelt sighed and turned back to Pebblepounce. He had noticed her now and was attempting to move back, the tether hanging from his suit looking rather ominous now that Shadepelt had come so close to grabbing him. 

"Hold still," she called to Pebblepounce. "Over." The gray tom gave a tiny nod, though it wasn't visible from where she was.

Back in the ship.

Lionshine narrowed her eyes, staring at the camera view attached to Shadepelt's suit. She zoomed out for a second, only to see that there was a third box below Shadepelt and Pebblepounce's—Alderwood was out there.

"Great," the she-cat griped. "I'm not going to be the one telling my mom that he got himself killed out there." 

She zoomed back in on Shadepelt, who was just a few whiskers away from grabbing Pebblepounce. "C'mon..." the golden she-cat whispered, staring at the screen. "You got this."

Just as the she-cat's paws closed in on the gray tom, a warbling voice echoed from the back of the cabin.

"What's happening?" asked Greenface.

By a very tired Rio. ⛈