Something in me is hoping that my experience with the hole this time will not be as horrible as what I went through with the hole when I first got here. However, what is left of my spirits about this situation vanishes as I crawl into the cramped, pitch-black path. With much disgust, as I cling to one wall of the tunnel, I feel dirt getting smeared onto my fur. The right side of my whiskers is smushed against the dirty wall. I try to move away from the wall, but I end up nearly crashing into the other one. Now both sides of my body are smeared. I'm going to have a fabulous time trying to wash all of the dirt off.

"You okay there, Forest?" Rain's voice sounds out from in front of me. For a fleeting moment, I feel a feather-like poke on my chest. I'm guessing that was most likely her tail.

"No," I groan. My legs already feel sore from walking in this bent-down position.

"It's not that bad!" she exclaims. She flicks her tail at me again. This time, it hits my front legs.

I sarcastically retort, "Sure, totally not that bad. I love barely being able to breathe." Now that I mention it, the space, or the lack of it, is not providing a very good source of air. I can feel it slowly choking me in the way that every breath I take doesn't give enough air, however much I try to take in. An icy cold weight of panic in my stomach is overtaking me. I want to turn back.

Before I actually do, though, I feel the wall of dirt come to an abrupt stop. Suddenly, I am standing without leaning against anything. Rain seems to have stopped, too, because I don't hear any paw steps.

It's not pitch-black anymore. The ceiling seems to be higher. Before, I felt it pressing down on my ears, but now, I don't. Rain shifts to the side, and a dim, gray light from the outside radiates nearby, coming from a path in front of me. Surprisingly, the light is enough to reveal where we are- it's a fairly large rectangular area that can hold about ten cats with some room to spare.

"Move so you're standing opposite of me, Forest," Rain meows. "That will allow more light in from the other side."

I do what she says and glance at the other light source that just appeared from where we came from.

That's when I notice the other cat. In the dimness, I see a black cat sitting in the corner behind Rain. I almost jump at the sight.

Rain gazes behind her shoulder to see who I'm staring at. "Oh, hi, Ash. Sorry, I didn't see you there."

        Ash's amber eyes glitter in the darkness as he nods at both of us. "Hello," he greets in a good-natured tone.

        His voice is deep. It's not exactly like Name's voice- Name has a rough and scratchy tone to his voice. Ash's voice is very smooth. I can't see him very well, but I think he has a white spot on his chest. The rest of his body is plain black.

        He looks nice, so maybe I should introduce myself to him before he thinks I'm some type of intruder or spy. "Hi," I meow, "my name is Forest. I'm new here. Rain helped me escape from one of the Superior camps nearby."

        "Yeah, more like I did all of the work by carrying him out of there while he was unconscious," Rain cuts in, swatting me with a paw. "Long story short, the idiots there were about to punish him with that plant drug of theirs, so I just decided to save him because he looked useful."

        Ash's critical-looking eyes travel through my body from ears to tail, as if he's trying to examine my value. "Ah," he softly rumbles as he narrows his eyes at me, "how interesting."

        Rain turns to me. "That's Ash," she meows. "He's one of the most well-known rebels around here. Ash is actually a Superior, if you could notice by the rings in his eyes, but he's on our side."

"The rings in his eyes?" I mumble. I notice after a second that he does have darker swirls near his irises. It's faint, though- noticeable, but only if you look closely.

"Yeah, it's a characteristic every Superior cat has. It's a very reliable technique we use to distinguish between a regular cat and a Superior."

After looking at me closely, Ash's gaze switches to focus on Rain. He asks, "Are you showing him the tunnels?"

"Yep. I'm just showing him rebel basics. Of course, I made him agree with the rule beforehand, so he's technically officially a rebel." Rain blinks at him, seeming to catch on to what he might be thinking. I have a hint about what he's thinking, too. By his critical scanning of me with his eyes, I'm getting a vibe that he might not trust me.

"Ah." Ash nods again. He glances at the exit that he is sitting nearest to. "Shall we go out into the open?"

"Sure," Rain and I meow at the same time. After awkwardly glancing at each other, Rain says, "Good idea, Ash. Let's go out the exit that you're next to. How about you go first, Forest?" She poses the question casually. Yet, as she turns her head towards me, I see that she's taunting me with her eyes.

"Fine." I drag out the word as I glare at Rain. She purrs with amusement and pushes me onward with her tail as I stand up and crawl into the tight and stuffy path again.

        Once we're out, Rain glances at Ash and me. "So," she questions, turning to Ash, "were there any Superiors who tried to pass through?"

        "No," Ash replies. Now that I can see him more clearly, I can see that he is on the older side. Ash's muzzle has some silver flecks of fur, indicating that he's much older than me. His right ear is chipped, most likely from a brawl with another cat.

        Rain blinks her eyes in satisfaction. "Good, I don't want a repeat of what happened yesterday in the South Tunnel."

        "How many tunnels are there?" I ask, suddenly feeling a mix of dread and curiosity about the tunnels.

        "There are four main ones," Rain explains, tilting her ears back. "North, South, East, and West. The one we just travelled through is the East Tunnel. It's the smallest one of the four. The South Tunnel is the biggest and longest. It's connected to the West Tunnel. North and West are in between, about the same length."

        "Oh," I meow, a little overwhelmed over the amount of information I've gotten from her.

         Rain seems to notice my confusion, because she purrs in amusement and says, "Don't worry, you have much to learn, but you'll learn all of it soon."

We start walking across the field, with Ash in the front of us. He's leading us somewhere. I'm about to ask where we're going, but something in the distance distracts me. Over there, in the middle of the land of long grass and gray skies, is a lonely tree.

The sight surprises and delights me so much that I almost miss what Ash says. "I sense Superior cats coming near," he growls, coming to a halt.

Rain and I stop walking as well. I smell the air. I did smell that there were other cats nearby, but it's a normal scent. How does Ash know that those are Superior cats?

"How many?" Rain questions. Her voice has dropped to a serious, grave tone.

A short pause. Ash turns his head to the right side and slightly opens his jaws as he tastes the air again. He answers, "Two."

I stare at him with even more shock than before. Not only does he know if they're Superior or not, but he knows how many cats there are without even looking. After I think about that, a realization comes upon me. Of course he knows that. That must be his power. After all, he is a Superior himself.

"Come on, let's continue walking. If we end up encountering them, at least we're not outnumbered." Rain's voice snaps me out of my thoughts.

        Ash simply glances at Rain, gives a short nod, and starts off again on his way. A brief second later, Rain and I follow him.

         I finally ask what I've been wondering this entire time. "Where are we going?"

        Rain looks at me. She replies, "We're going to patrol the South Tunnel. We keep getting reports of Superior cats trying to go through there, even going so far as to claim that they have the right to be there." She pauses to snort at that fact before continuing. "So, we just have extra cats to guard there now, just in case they try to fight again like what we heard happened yesterday."

        "Oh. Okay," I hesitantly say, a little disappointed that we were going to another tunnel. But again, what was I expecting? Something other than a tunnel?

        Silence passes for a while. My paws are starting to be sore from the amount of time that we are walking. The sun is starting to go down. I can tell because the grayness in the sky is gradually darkening. For some reason, the sun in Gardinia isn't as strong as on Earth, so there are barely any dramatic dawns or dusks here. No pink or yellow or orange in the sky. It just darkens.

        It releases a new and unneeded dose of homesickness in me.

        As the sky slowly starts to turn to a dark blue, Rain meows, "Is it just me, or are we going around the path we usually take to get there?"

       Ash doesn't speak for a moment. Just when I think he's not going to answer, I hear his baritone voice reply, "I am going around to avoid the two Superior cats. I believe they are from the enemy camp Forest came from."

        "Really?" Despite Rain's reaction, she doesn't look very surprised, since her fur is still flat, and her body is relaxed. "Who are they? Let me guess, Ice and Mirage, right?"

        Without even glancing back at us, Ash nods. "Yes."

        Contrary to Rain, I feel a sharp burst of panic in my chest. They must be desperate to find me if they're still looking. "I'm dead if they find me," I nervously state.

        "Well, obviously!" Rain exclaims, flicking me with her tail. "That's exactly why we're not letting them get you. And to be truthful, we all will probably be dead, since Mirage could come and use her power."

        Mirage's power. I spent all of this time with her, and I don't even know what her power is. Based on what Rain said, it must be a strong one if it could kill off all of us.

         "Huh," I murmur to myself, "I just realized that I've never seen Mirage using her power before."

        Rain purrs with laughter. "You wouldn't want to see. It's basically a form of self-combustion."

        I almost freeze at that. "Self-combustion?" I stammer. "Is that even possible?"

        "Of course. She just gathers up power, and then everything around her explodes and leaves behind a gigantic hole in the ground. Then, she miraculously gets unharmed by it. From what I heard, she only gets a few days of a coma from it." She shudders. "But luckily, Mirage only used it a few times in her life. I had to survive it twice."

        "Wow, that's a crazy power. No wonder she never even mentioned it before."

        "I know."

        "And I thought being able to teleport between different planets was crazy."

        "Yeah. I'm pretty used to those types of powers, but I can see how it can be weird for an Earth cat like you. I heard Earth only has normal cats."

        "They do."

        Ash comes to a stop. Rain and I halt as well and stare at the hole that we have arrived to. It's slightly bigger than the East Tunnel one, but it still gives my mind shivers.

        Without a word, the silent older male cat slips into the hole without a word. Rain and I stay still.

        "Why don't you go first, Forest?" Rain purrs with mockingly innocent eyes that make me want to shove a paw down her throat.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for reading Chapter 18 of Forest's Fate! If you enjoyed this chapter, feel free to vote and comment your thoughts.

-Midnight