Fallon realized that Kabel was waving his hand in front of her face, trying to get her attention. "Oh, sorry. I mean to space out." She said, trying to act calm. Kirito looked at Kabel in surprise to see him looking at the spear like it was a snake, ready to pounce on him at any given moment. "Oh," kirito said and moved the spear away from Kabel.

Kabel nodded at Kiro. "Thanks. I was wondering when you would stop holding it like you were pondering to let it keep going," he said. Then he turned to Fallon. "It's fine, I just saw halls staring off into the Great Maw of death himself, and I was gettin a bit worried that perhaps his buddies were comin to mess with us." He shook himself out, suddenly cold. Especially his back. He still hadn't fixed the hole Wildfire hat burned into it, and the bandage (which was filled with dried blood and ley-ichor apparently, Kabel wasn't sure when that happened) didn't cover it fully. Suddenly, a wolf's cry pierced his grumbling thoughts, and he was suddenly very alert. "Did uh... yalls... you guys hear that?" An owl seemed to respond to the wolf, which did not pick up the conversation. He wasn't afraid of owls; they couldn't tear you limb from limb... as far as he knew. He'd seen talking animals, shape-shifters (speaking of which, did his golem still have Pyro? He didn't really care, but was a bit unnerved that she could be loose again), and... well, Bug. He glanced over at the weird creature, who was still hanging from Kiro's hand. Kabel would never stop marveling at the multitasking capabilities of that human; holding on to a thrashing... thing, while being tied up by talking tigers, and then still catches a spear. He thought for a moment. Who had thrown the spear? Or was it like a secret mini ballista? It would have to go unanswered for now; he didn't want to venture anywhere away from Fallon And Kiro.

"Star! the strangle vine! Shado-erk" the stranger shot up his hand and grabbed Wildfire's throat as Star streaked off and Shadow aimed up another attack and hissed in an all too familiar voice "well. well. if it isn't one of our trouble makers. Wildest Fires of the Drought." Wildfire gasped for breath and lit herself and the surrounding trees on fire the person screamed and fell. she rubbed her throat and refilled her lungs "only one person calls me that. isn't that right, Crystal?" she gasped as a stone pillar shot out and struck her in the chest knocking her out. Star came back with the vine but dropped it and ran with Shadows to where the other three were

Kirito nodded "Well, I'm pretty sure anyone could have heard that. It's sort of normal to hear things like that in a forest, we are in nature after all. jeez, it's like you never go out at all. What do you guys do all day in that underground city of your's? Sleep?" He asked and then glanced around, before dropping the thing on the ground. He turned to label and Fallon. "Even if that was just a wolf howl, I'm getting a feeling we need to get going."Fallon looked at him confused "Howcome?" She ask

Kabel pointed to the sky. "Well, one, that." Then he swept his arms around. "And the fact we're in the FOREST, at NIGHT, with CRAZY ALIEN THINGS, like that BUG." He pointed to Bug (he didn't remember what he said his name was, or if that's was even his name), who was scuttling off. "So then what's are we waiting for? Ship's yours, cap'ny," he said with a terrible accent, and did a salute. "Whar we be a-headed?"

Star and Shadows burst through into the clearing and tackled Kabel, grabbed him by his short collar and started to drag him into the bushes but dropped him cause he squirmed too much. Shadows watched Star and laughed " really? U remember we can talk right? Jeez Star. I was starting to think u forgot! HAHA!!" Star glared at Shadow "no I didn't idiot. But let's recap shall we? Wildest fires just got knocked out by the great Elder Crystal" she spat on the ground " oh and let's not forget it was your idea to act like 'normal' animals." Star stuck out her tongue at Shadows "oh! So I'm to blame am i!" She tackled Star growling and fighting with tooth and claw

Kabel stood up, shakily, and eyed the tigers. "Next time can we not act like we're mauling me, please and thank you?" He stood up, and felt his color. It was all shredded, And now he nearly had an entirely open-back shirt. Wonderful. Freezing to death was always what he wanted to do. He looked at the tigers, then Fallon and Kiro, with a "whataya we do now" kind of look. The tigers were starting to get a bit wild, and looked like one truly coulld kill the other.

Kirito shrugged and then did a straight face "We could just let them rip each other apart. It would be a little intertwining." he said. Immediately Fallon shouted no. "No one is letting anyone rip someone apart, I'm looking at you buddy." she said, staring at Kirito with a frown. Kirito laughed for a couple seconds "Jeez, you guys are so uptight. relax already." he told them and then looked at the two tigers. "hello, I don't think we have truly met. What are your names?" he asked politely.

Star stopped and stared at Fallon, then kicked Shadows in the gut knocking the wind out of her "shuddup you overgrown bag of fleas.' Shadows growled but complied "hi. i'm Illusionary Shadows. that's Breaking Star. good and jolly we've all met now pip pip we're best buds now aren't we." Shadows talked in a fake british accent and mock walked around on two legs then crashed down on her paws "now now Shadows no need to mock them. they're Wild's friends." she looked Kabel down and muttered "how she managed to get caught up in this i do not care to know." she sat down in front of them and Shadows joined her "we are Wildest's clan sisters not nice to meet you bag of ruffians, now can we discuss why Elder Crystal is here?" she spat on the ground "and why he wanted Wild? hmm? anyone got an answer? no? alright then we'll be going." Star got up "thank you soo much for your consideration." sneering she jumped up into a branch and disappeared into the canopy. Shadows looked after her "welp. that went well." and looked back at the trio. "but really. you need to get her back." and disappeared into the bushes

Kabel opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. "So uh... yeah... that happened." He looked into the trees, but the tigers were already gone. "Sooo... now we go save Winter and Wildfire, yay?" He suggested, looking to Fallon and Kiro. "I mean, we could just follow the tigers, and, yknow, find them. Cuz they know where they are I guess. Or is it just Wildfire? I don't know."

Star and Shadows circled back "do you think they'll try and follow us?" Star looked at her sister "them? nah. they're too dumb... no, they'll try to do it on their own i think." Shadows smirked "wanna make it a bet?" one tigress looked at the other "ok, fine. what's the wager." "moose for a month" "oh you are so on." they buted heads and watched but slunk back when Kabel looked up at them

Kirito glanced at fallon who looked like her head was hurting, he had her hand on her forehead. After a few seconds had gone by, she turned to Kirito and it seemed as though the two were having a dissucion, but without words. Their expressions were as clear as day but not once did they speak. After a couple minutes went by, Kirito put his hand up in the air. "You win Fal, we'll do it." he said and turned to Kabel. "We need to follow the tigers, it's the most obvious choice, but also the easiest one as well." he said and then brushed off some dirt that was on his shirt. he then started to race off into the forest without looking back. Fallon watched him go for a second before glancing at Kabel "Come on, they're heading in the right direction, it would make no sense if we didn't go and follow them." she said and then raced off after Kirito, leaving Kabel standing alone for a couple seconds.

Kabel stood for a second, then ran after Fallon and Kiro. Then he stopped, and climbed one of the trees (he figured out that the stone feet function as very good hands too) to get a better view. From there he just stretched the stone to go from branch to branch. In the night sky, the Layo Kal starships were very busy, and on the horizon he could see a few small, winged spheres zooming around. A few looked like they had caught something, which he tried not to think about. Random flashes here and there signaled that others had eliminated their targets. He shuddered, but continued on. He wanted to get his friend back.

Shadows jumped out of the way as a shot of stone barreled through the tree they were in and was about to call out when Kabel rushed by. after a few minutes Star said "well, that happened." then glanced at the tunnel through the thick leaves "aaaand they're going the wrong way. Shadows, stop the stone dude. i'm gonna catch up with the other two gloom heads and try to steer them towards the River's Crash. meet me there?" Shadows nodded and took off "see ya BS!!!"

Star jumped down and followed the scent of the two gloom heads easily catching up with them "hey! you dunder brains! you're going the wrong way. and you made Shadows loose a bet! haha! thanks! she owes me moose for a month!! yum. anyhoo, FOUR!" Star ducked as a log came crashing down from above

Fallon turned in surprise to see the tiger duck down as a log came crashing from above. In a slit second, everything seemed to almost freeze in place for a couple seconds. Fallon didn't notice it as she ran to Star just in time to stop the log from hitting her. Fallon pushed the log off of herself and looked at the big cat. "So we were going the wrong way." She said and turned to Kirito, her arms folded up crossly. Kirito put his hands in the air "Okay, fine, I was wrong just this ONE time. Geez some much for me trying to be helpful. " he said, muttering to himself. "We should go find Kabel, He's probably going to do the sam-" he started to say just as Kabel came thundering past them. A second later, the other tiger came running past. Kirito glanced at fallon. "well, that just happened."

"DUCK AND COVER WATCH OUT GET OUTTA THE WAY HOLY CR44444444444444P!!!!" Kabel shot out of the trees and crashed into the ground, a great hurtling missile of rock-wrapped human. He slammed into the ground, skidding several yards through tree space and bushes before he stopped. He lay upside down on a disk of stone, groaning and fuzzy-eyed. "Yes master Dwarf, I am the captain of this ship, pip pip, skiddiby bang, pop pop pow." He made a finger gun and did sloppy shooting motions around.He saw Kirto, Fallon, and those strange tigers looking at him weirdly. "Ey, thanks for not getting killed! Er... uh... not... getting... in the way...? I dunno, THANKS YA MUCHES ANYHOWSAWAY!!" And the new he slumped down, unconscious.

Kirito slapped his forehead. "How come I'm always stuck with idiots all around me?" he muttered to himself while walking over to label, and picking him up, practically throwing him over his shoulder like it was no sweat. "Right,"He said, turning to the two cats. "Since I guess It was my idea to go this way and since I was wrong and Fallon was right...this time that is... where should we go fur balls?" he asked them, slightly adjusting Kabel so he wasn't crushing his shoulder. "Geez, this dude needs to lay off the cookies for awhile." he said, mostly to himself. Fallon shook her head at the comment and then turned back to the two tigers. "Shadow and Star was it? Well, do you think you could show us the right way to go? We would sort of like to get our friend back." She told them politely.

Shadows huffed at Kirito's comment " 'furballs' are those wolves. we are not 'furballs' we could leave you here and-" Star slapped her across the muzzle "oh hush you. first of all, i know how you feel," she said nodding to Kirito "second of all, what the heck is wrong with him, and third. yes. i can show you the way if you can keep up." Star turned away "Shadows guard our tail." Shadows muttered under her breath "yes oh great Katana." and set herself up behind them "ready? too bad" and took off

Fallon smiled for the first time since they had gotten into the forest. "I'm pretty sure I'll be able to keep up," She said and added "But that slacker back there, I don't know." She said. "Hey! I'm not always a slacker." Kirito said, feeling outraged for a second and then sighing. Fallon smirked a tiny bit before following Star, keeping up with her easily. Every so often Fallon would look behind to make sure Kirito was okay. He actually looked fine, he was keeping up pretty well, but if you looked closely, you could tell he wasn't doing so well as he looked. he looked exhausted, plus he had Kabel on him, and they had previously just been running a couple seconds ago. She moved her gaze back in front, keeping her eyes peeled for anything that could be a threat.

Kabel woke up bouncing on the back of someone large. Did he miss something? He couldn't have been out that long... he thought back to the last thing he remembered. Falling. That wasn't about it. He pondered over the memory, hoping his somewhat photographic memory was having one of its good days. It looked as if he were going quite fast... so then he had to have hit the ground with considerable force. He did a sort of self check on the pain in his body. His side still hurt, even though Fallon had healed it, at least a bit. But otherwise, noth-- oh. His head and right arm were throbbing. Ugh. He could ask Fallon to help with that later. How long had he been out? It had to be an hour or two... he tried to lift his head to see where he was, but it fell back. It was simply too painful. Instead he examined the narrow space between what he assumed to be Kiro's back and the edge of his sight. All he saw was trees. And more trees. And some more trees. Oh, look! Trees. Then, surprisingly, he saw........ trees. Ugh.