Before you start reading, I'm going to warn you that there is some violence in this chapter (specifically near the end of it). I don't think it's enough to make people extremely uncomfortable, but just in case, be prepared for that. Enjoy!

-Midnight

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        As I slowly trudge over to Mirage, I feel the heat of everyone's eyes on me. I felt it before back at the whole fiasco that happened after Branch's punishment. It's an uncomfortable feeling that makes me paranoid that they're observing my every move.

"Hurry up!" Mirage snaps when I'm halfway to her. "We don't have all day for this." I grit my teeth and slightly increase my speed of getting to her. Only slightly.

Once I'm finally standing at about five cat tails away from her, Mirage turns to face me. Her brown eye scans my body, as if I'm some sort of prey. Even the huge scar on her face is glittering with anticipation. Finally, she straightens and stands up from her seated position. "You start the fight," Mirage quietly commands.

From somewhere within me, panic begins to set in like ice forming in the bottom of my stomach. Start the fight? How? I guess I'll have to pounce on her or something. Mirage is standing motionlessly in place as I walk towards her. I'm still painfully aware of the others watching us, and my stupid paws are shaking. Her cold, emotionless stare is starting to give me chills down my spine.

Suddenly, I have an idea of where to start. Maybe I'll do better at unbalancing her if I attack her from the side instead of the front. And I exactly know from which side. I feel my tail lift with satisfaction of my plan before creeping over to her blind left side. Murmurs start to rise from the others as Mirage starts to turn her head to see where I was. That's when I barrel straight into her body.

        I land right on top of her side when she loses her balance and topples onto the ground. Her blind side is still towards me, so she still can't see me when I pin her down in her awkward sideways position. Suddenly, Mirage forcefully rockets my front paws back by rolling onto her back, knocking me off balance as well. Before I actually fall though, her strong back leg kicks my stomach.

        Although her claws are luckily sheathed, the impact knocks the breath out of my body. A strangled, loud noise slips out of my mouth as my back crashes on the ground. Pain flares through my spine like fire. Before I can think of getting up, a gigantic force crashes into my side and makes me lay on my stomach. I feel Mirage leap onto me and hold me down with her entire body as my back is still throbbing with pain.

At first, I think that our battle is over. I'm squirming under her weight to try to escape, but I see no chance of slipping out of her grip. But then I feel her face lower to my ear. Mirage harshly breathes, "Try to knock me off. I bet you can't." Confusion fogs my mind for a moment. How in the world can I get her off me when I'm tightly pinned down like this?

        But then I understand what she might be doing. She's challenging me and trying to test my limits. She's not making me surrender yet.

         This is the exact same position I was in the other day when I fought with that random cat. There seemed to be no way out either in that situation. But there has to be a way.

        I know I'm running out of time, so I rack my brain with ideas. One possible solution could be to do what Mirage did earlier and do a sudden push to make her fall off me. But I can easily tell that she's way too strong for that. She would hold on no matter what. Also, I feel like my back is going to break if I do any more intense movements with it. I have to scratch that out of my list.

        Mirage interrupts my train of thought by raking my back with a claw. Although it's not that deep of a scratch, it still burns. "Ow, what was that for?!" I exclaim.

        "Hurry up!" Mirage hisses. "Are you going to surrender?" She raises her voice so everyone watching can hear her.

        I was just about to say yes when a flame sparks in my head. Not literally, of course, but I feel a positive spark in my mind when I finally have an idea. It's completely random, but it occurs to me that it might actually work.

        First, I groan before my muscles suddenly loosen instead of keeping themselves stiff like they were the entire time I was in this position. My head thuds to the ground, and all four of my paws slide out to the side. I decide not to act completely dead, since that wouldn't be realistic, so I keep breathing.

        "Forest?" Mirage calls out my name uncertainly for a second. And she gets caught off guard as her grip loosens. Perfect.

        I bring the life back to my muscles and explode backwards, making Mirage fly off me. By some miracle, I didn't go flying uncontrollably with her, so I end up leaping into the air and landing on my paws. My back feels like it got stabbed, but I don't care anyone. Fury is running through my veins. Fury at Mirage, fury at everyone who's watching our twisted battle, fury at everyone in the idiotic world of Gardinia.

        I whirl around and charge at her with a loud battle yowl slipping out my throat. Although Mirage is in a crouch with her back to me, she still had landed on her paws. She quickly straightens up, still recovering from the scare she had gotten from me.

Before she gets a chance to react further, I bolt to Mirage and furiously chomp on the first part of her body that I could find, which was her tail. The fire of revenge is raging in the depths of my soul for how she pinned me down and scratched my back like that. Mirage screeches in surprise and kicks me in the chest with her back leg. This time, her claws are unsheathed, and I feel a wound form where she kicked me.

But no, I'm way too angry at her to back down that fast. Instead, I bite down on her tail even harder until her blood floods my mouth.

"Let go of me!" Mirage screams as she claws me even harder with her rear legs. The third time she does it finally weakens me, and I get distracted by the pain. Mirage yanks her tail out of reach and tackles me to the ground. She pins me down again. Only this time, she lowers her head down to my neck as if she's going to chomp down on it.

For a moment, fear joins my anger and races through my heart. Is she really going to kill me? But she pauses right at that moment and growls, "We're stopping right here. I've got a line of cats I need to test." With a harsh thud, she pounces to the ground and stalks away, leaving me there on the ground.

        As I lay there on the ground trying to collect myself, I wonder what Mirage thinks of my fighting. She doesn't seem very impressed, but again, she's not really showing any emotion about this right now. Maybe other than the fact that she may be mad at me because of how I bit her tail. Well, I'm mad at her too because she clawed my back during the fight, so it looks like we're on even territory if she's actually angry.

        After getting up, I walk back to where everyone else is. Mirage is telling some other cat that it's her or his turn. Her tail is bleeding, but she doesn't seem to notice. I sit next to Branch again with a deep sigh.

        As soon as Branch sees me, his light brown eyes sparkle with wonder. "Wow, you looked really mad during that fight. Are you okay?"

        Ugh, so they all saw me like that. "Yeah," I curtly state, bowing my head toward the ground. "I'm fine."

My gaze flits up to Mirage and the other cat that I don't know. They have already started their fight. That other cat is a small gray cat with blue eyes. With the high-pitched squeaking noises she's making when Mirage pounces on her, I can easily tell that she's a girl. She looks really young, as if she has just gotten out of kit-hood. Her eyes are wide and afraid as Mirage pins her down on her back easily. She looks like she's doing far worse than I did. But again, she also looks new to this place.

"I surrender!" the petrified gray she-cat sputters.

"Already?" Mirage tilts her head as she stares at her victim. Why is she suddenly acting so innocent?

"Yes!" she screams. "I'm sorry. I can't do this! I'm scared of fighting. Your scar is scary. Please send me back to Earth!"

Mirage pauses. A long, icy silence pierces the air. She is starting to look eerie with her motionless body. Or maybe it's just because the scar on her face is faced towards me. But no, not that. Something else is off about her. I quickly glance around me and notice that everyone else is also watching with wide eyes. Why won't Mirage say anything?

Finally, Mirage asks in a harsh, loud tone, "Are you sure you don't even want to get through the test fight?"

Silence again. The gray cat is shivering in Mirage's death grip. "Yes," she whispers. Her voice is barely audible.

"What was that?" I'm sure Mirage heard the first time. Her cold, mocking voice sends a rippling chill down my spine.

"Yes," the gray cat repeats, this time louder. "I'm sure I don't want to fight."

Mirage stares at the she-cat silently as the victim continues to shiver wildly. "Well," she growls. "I guess we Superiors don't need you, then." The gray cat suddenly screams as Mirage's jaws close down on her throat. A loud crack echoes throughout the land. And then silence reigns once again when Mirage jumps off of the dead cat.

Surprise electrifies my body. No, not surprise. Shock. I'm shocked beyond words.

       Why did she do that? The cat was innocent. I thought we had strikes. She could have just given her a strike or even the blue-leaf. Didn't Name say we didn't do executions anymore?

The white fur on Mirage's back prickles as she looks at all of us. Then, her head tilts back and a fierce, icy laugh tumbles out of her mouth. We're all silent. I hate silence.

I'm done with being quiet. "You're a monster," I coolly state as I stand up on my paws and stare at her in the eye.

She was still laughing when I said that, but after that comes out of my mouth, she stops. Mirage glares at me for a moment. But then, her face softens in amusement as she continues to return my stare. "You're right."

Another shiver crawls down my spine at her response. She looks like she is going to say something else, but as if she decided not to at the last moment, she just shakes her head and continues to laugh. When the chilly ripple passes my spine, a fiery heat rises in my chest. "What's so funny?" My voice comes out rough and maybe revealing more anger than I intend to show.

   Surprisingly, Mirage ignores my challenging comment. After another moment of looking at me, she breaks the stare. Her sinister gaze shifts to Branch. "You're next," she chirps as if nothing happened. As if there wasn't a dead young cat behind her. As if she didn't just murder someone.

Branch glances at me nervously. "I'm scared to death," he mutters in my ear as he stands up.

"Go," I reply to him in a whisper. "You'll be fine. Just keep fighting." At least I hope he'll be fine.

The short, brown tom gives a simple nod. Then, he brushes past me as he goes to face his dark opponent.

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How did you guys like this chapter? This one was a bit longer than the others, but I hope it was as action-filled as I intended it to be.

Do you think Forest is as bad as fighting as he says? Did you notice any personality traits he has that helped him in his fight against Mirage? Comment any thoughts below!

Please consider voting if you liked this chapter. It would really make my day. 😊

Thanks for reading this! 😀