Kasai frantically searched the room for any sign of her little brother.

"FUEGO!? Fuego, ¿¡dónde fuiste!? ¿¡Dónde fuiste!? Cachorro hermano, ¿¡dónde estás¡?" she called.

She was clearly worried.  She ONLY speaks Spanish when she's really worried.

Fiebre and Zestó came in after they heard their daughter's frantic calls. "Kasai? What is it? What's wrong?" Zestó asked.

"¡Él está perdido!  He's missing!  Fuego is missing!!" Kasai said, panicked.

Fiebre cupped her hands over her mouth, surprised. Zestó hesitated for a moment, flames starting to appear on his body.

"But that's impossible! Fuego was sick. He couldn't have..."

"He's not here. I've searched everywhere! Now I have two people to find..."

Kasai couldn't help but cry. She wasn't known for crying. She rarely cried, but this was serious.  She was already overwhelmed with leading the search for Snow, but now her beloved little brother was missing as well.

Fiebre embraced her daughter in a tight hug, whispering comforting things in her ear. Kasai struggled to calm down, but it wasn't working. She was too worried about Fuego.

"Oh, hermanito, ¿dónde podrías estar?" she whispered to herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ • ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fuego stood at the edge of the Forbidden Hills and took a deep breath.  Deep down, he didn't want to be here.  He knew he shouldn't be here.  But he knew he had to be here.  It was a matter of life or death, he thought.  His now bright green eyes were dull and almost emotionless as he entered the area.

Dokusei padded over in her wolf form and looked at him expectantly.  Fuego immediately took a step back, fear beginning to overwhelm him.  This was the werewolf that had bitten him!

She barked at him before running off.  He wasn't sure why, but he wanted to follow, so he did.  He followed close behind, being careful not to lose sight of her.

She led him deep into the Forbidden Hills, into Nuclear's lair.

Of course, KitKat were the first to see them.

"Hey, who are you?"

"We've never seen you here before!"

"You must be new."

"Yeah, why else would ya be following the queen?"

Fuego cringed away from the two nekos, surprised. "What are you-"

Dokusei let out a loud bark. KitKat cringed away, obediently being quiet. Fuego was amazed at their obedience. This werewolf clearly knew what she was doing, he thought.

Dokusei quickly ran away to change back.  KitKat waited for her to be gone before once again blurting out questions.

"What's your name?"

"What species are you?"

"When'd you get here?"

"Whoa, ¡ve más despacio!  Slow down!  My name's Fuego, I'm a phoenix, and I just got here."

"A phoenix, eh?" a voice called. "About time we recruited one of those."

Fuego leaped back and turned towards the source of the voice. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"Whoa, chill out." the voice spoke. A dragon stepped out of the shadows before going into human form. She was shortly followed by a few others. "Name's Teresa."

Fuego eyed the people before him. They all seemed rather strange.

"... you don't look normal at all." He crossed his arms.

"Pfft, because we're not." Teresa huffed. "No one's normal here. 'Cept you. But that's because you just got here."

Fuego's eyes widened. "¡¿Qué me va a pasar?! What's gonna happen to me!?" He jumped back.

Teresa just laughed. "Whoa, calm down! It might not be that bad. Y'never know, though.  Just stay calm, 'kay?"

Fuego's gaze switched from the rather rude dragon to the others behind her.  "And who are they?"

"Right.  That's Xander, Alex, Lucy, and Red." Teresa muttered, gesturing to each one as she said their name.

Xander snorted and scraped his back hoof on the ground. "You look like a wimp." he said in a gruff voice.

Fuego glared. "I'll have you know I'm the son of the most famous phoenix warrior in Hadari!" he boasted.  "¡No soy un cobarde!  I'm not a wimp!"

Xander's eyes narrowed.  "Yeah, sure."

"¡POR QUE ORDEN!-"

"ENOUGH."  The order echoed off the walls, causing the entire group to freeze and look in the direction of the voice to see Dokusei standing over them, her eye glowing.  Her crown was on her head.  "I see you've met our newest recruit. I hope you treat him well. I found him outside the house of Zestó. I'm sure you've heard the name."

"... oh. So he WASN'T making that up." Xander muttered to himself.

"So you ARE Zestó's son? Ahh, that's so exciting!" Lucy said, bouncing slightly. "We have a real warrior on our side now!"

"A real warrior indeed." Dokusei muttered. "At least, I'm hoping."

"Mí hermana — my sister — has taught me as best as she could, and she's one of the best I know." Fuego said plainly. "I'll try not to let you down."

"Good. Because we're going to need your skills if we are to succeed."

"... succeed in what?"

"Taking over, that's what!"

Fuego hesitated. Deep down, he wanted to protest and run away, but something was keeping him from doing so. Dokusei glared at him. "Resisting is pointless. You belong to me now, and you will do as I say. Understood?"

He sighed and dipped his head. "... understood."

He froze when he felt his hair move and looked up, seeing KitKat batting the curly cue on his hair around. "Aye, aye, aye..."

"What? It's so bouncy!" Kit mewed, her tail swishing.

"Yeah!" Kat agreed.

"KitKat, quit it." Dokusei growled.  The two nekos obediently stopped.  "Good.  Now, where was I?  Oh, right.  You are to come with me to see Nuclear right away."

"Nuclear?"  Fuego sounded shocked.  "I thought he was gone!"

"It is true that he left a while ago, but he is here.  And he wants to see you.  We mustn't keep him waiting.  Now, come."

Fuego gulped before following Dokusei out of the room.

A feeling of doom hung in the air.  This will not end well...