"Hey, Forest, wake up!"

        I am still lying on the chilly, hard ground. My head is pounding with pain. I'm on my second strike, and I bet that by the end of this day, I will be on my third. What use is there to get up?

        "Seriously, Forest!"

         I finally realize that the voice belongs to Mirage. What does she want from me? "Leave me alone," I mumble.

She ignores me. Instead, she hisses louder in my ear, "Hey, get up!"

       "Why?" I force my head to turn to her. My nose bumps against hers, and her eye is suddenly just a mouse tail away from my face.

        "Just do it." She's giving me a death stare, and her booming words stab at my aching head. I don't know why my head hurts so bad.

        "What's the point? Just one more strike, and I'll be-"

        A large paw slams against my mouth to cut me off. Mirage yells, "Shut up! Come on, you idiot, just get up." Nine words. Nine more stabs to my head. Why is she so loud? Why does she want me to get up?

       Name's quieter but firm voice cuts through from behind Mirage. "Leave Forest alone. I believe he is capable of getting up himself. In fact, if he is not standing by nighttime, then he will be on his third strike." I want to retort something to him, but Mirage's paw is still shoved against my jaw. All I do is let out a long and stretched-out groan, one that reminds me of Branch's moan when he got the blue-leaf. My voice is muffled from Mirage's paw. No answer comes from stupid Name. I hear his paw-steps as he starts to walk away.

         But before he is gone, I hear him growl, "Certain consequences will take place if you don't step away from Forest, Assistant Mirage." I flinch as her claws unsheathe for a moment against my mouth.

        "Yes, sir." I can sense the deep frustration in her voice. I know she doesn't want to be Assistant Mirage. Fighting Trainer Mirage suits her better. I stare at her as she slowly drags her paw off my face. She glances at me before silently stalking off without another word.

        "Your choice, Forest," Name growls as he walks away again. I grit my teeth, flopping my head to the side again as I see the tip of his tail disappear into a den nearby.

       For a moment, I just want to lay on the ground and die. Maybe I'll force myself to choke to death on the blue-leaf when I get it or something. But Mirage's voice echoes in my head.

       "You will fight the rebels, and as soon as we win, we will send you back to Earth."

We win, I go home. Either that, or I'll escape to go join the rebels, and maybe we can capture Name to make him send me back to Earth. There's hope.

But what if Branch is right? What if they just make us slaves after they win? What if they get greedy and try to take over Earth?

No. Mirage has to be right. There must be hope for a way out. Hope.

I repeat the word hope in my head as I put my weight on my paws and push myself up.
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I can't sleep.

Hope.

My head is still pounding like crazy.

Hope.

I will be on my third strike in no time.

Hope.

I hate Name so much, and I'm sure he hates me too.

Hope.

I can't even trust myself to behave.

Hope.

I have to, though. For now, until I finally decide what to do, I have to.

..Hope.

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The sun has finally risen. I eventually slept in the middle of the night, and my headache finally passed, so I guess my mood has improved a little bit.

Just as I sit up from my laying position, I hear Snowflake yell from the den entrance, "Time to get up, everyone! Come on, let's go!" Groans erupt from some parts of the den, but unlike Mirage, Snowflake doesn't yell at them to shut up and stop their complaints. Every cat is rising to their paws and padding towards the entrance. I stand up and push myself out of the den as well.

        Right away, Snowflake starts to assign cats for the hunting patrol. I already went not long ago, so I get to stay. However, after scanning the camp, my eyes land on Branch. Name is talking to him next to a den. I squint my eyes and walk closer to them so I can get a better look at him. Branch looks pretty much the same as before, except that by the gleam in his eyes and his tail pointing up, he looks excited. I wonder what he's like now. Curious questions keep coming to my head. Does he seriously not remember anything? Is his original personality still there? I never actually talked to Branch, but I heard about his obnoxious jokes and disturbing pranks. Lately, I got to talk to Stripe again, and she even said that he got his first strike by spying on Name in his sleep. Also, I heard from her that he hated Gardinia, just like me.

         I observe both of them, waiting for Name to walk away so I could talk to Branch. Name's eyes are narrowed at him as he growls something in a low voice, and Branch suddenly looks a little intimidated. He nods a million times, and his ears are flattened with a hint of concern and fear. As I watch them, a thought pops up in my head that makes me understand what's happening. Name must be threatening Branch so he doesn't do anything bad again.

        A weight suddenly smacks into my side, almost knocking me over. I jump and spin around, feeling my fur bristle, just to see Mirage angrily glaring at me.

"Hey, bird-head," she hisses, "I called your name about a thousand times!" Mirage steps away from me and walks backward, gesturing with her tail for me to follow her. I realize that she wants to distance us away from Name and Branch.

However, remembering what I wanted to do, I stay where I am. "I want to talk to Branch," I tell her.

Mirage rolls her eyes and snorts, "Why?"

"I'm curious about what he's like now."

She briskly snaps in a low voice, "You want to know what he's like? Are you kidding me? Well, you already know, for bird's sake! He lost his memory, he's basically a stupid air-head now, just like before, and he probably won't even talk to you because Name will already have warned him about the cats who have gotten strikes. Look, he's already gesturing towards you!"

I turn my head to glance at Name. He's still talking to Branch with his tail pointed in my direction. Branch gazes in the direction of his tail and meets my eyes for a fleeting moment. When he realizes that he is looking straight into my eyes, he flinches and looks back at Name. Finally, my eyes land back on Mirage. I retort, "Well, I didn't know about that last part you just said!" Frustration gnaws at my heart as I stand up and stalk past her. Why does Mirage have to know everything?

I hear the grass rustle behind me as Mirage walks toward me again, but luckily, I crash right into another cat.

"Oof!" Stripe jumps away from me with a grin. Her ginger fur is sticking out in different directions. It reminds me of the hedgehogs back from Earth. "Whoops, sorry! I didn't see ya there."

        The thought of Stripe as a ginger hedgehog almost makes me laugh out loud. "That's alright. How are you doing?" I ask, trying to start a conversation with Stripe so Mirage can go away.

       "I'm fine." As Stripe looks up at me, I notice a mischievous glint in her eyes. She purrs, "I think Mirage likes you!"

"Likes me?" My head spins with such a thought! "Mirage hates me! Did you see how she tackled me a moment earlier?" I rotate around to glance at her. She's in the same spot as before, except that she's now yelling at some poor young cat who must be new here to stop staring at her.

Stripe exclaims, "Yeah! I saw the look in her eyes when I bumped into you. She was jea-a-a-alous!" The way she drags out the "a" in the word jealous makes me want to vomit.

What an idiot. She isn't worth talking to, either. I roll my eyes and mutter, "Sure, Stripe. Keep dreaming." With that, I stride away to another part of the camp.

It didn't take long before Snowflake yowls from the center of the camp, "Everyone, gather around me! It's time to group for fighting training!"

When I glance back behind me, my eyes land once again on Branch. Name has left him, leaving him standing there. Strangely, he doesn't look happy or frightened anymore. However, there is one emotion in his eyes that I have felt deep in my heart ever since I came here.

Lostness.

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