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The single sentence pulled him away from the fishing cats, soaring through a rush of air.
In a flash, his paws landed on crumbling earth. Looking around at his surroundings, he saw the black-and-white blur of Pinwheel screeching in terror and looking at him desperately, along with Rapier.
The ground was shaking, his paws loose. The Great Tiger did not give me the power to control the weather, he thought with a sense of dread.
He shook his head and yowled, “This is not good. Get on!” Transforming into a bigger shape, Invincible and the kits raced away from the sight. But the earthquake was hard on their paws as Invincible scrambled the opposite direction, the helpless kits relying on him. He couldn’t teleport; these kits had their own journey. Invincible turned into his manticore shape and soared into the sky.
Eventually, the rumbling faded, and Invincible breathed a sigh of relief and let the kits climb off his back as they landed.
“That was something, little ones. But nothing can stop Invincible.”
Then, his eyes slit to a strange, young white cat with pinkish-purple eyes and a wrap around his neck.
He growled and slid out his claws. “Who’s that? Did I let him ride me without noticing?” Well, that young cat won’t get away with it!
He howled, leaping and pinning the cat down, his clawed paw on his chest. The white cat writhed, struggling in a desperate effort.
Invincible threw challenges at its face. “What are you doing here with these kits? What’s your business? To spy? Are you going to report back to Sleek and her little Guards once I let you go? Will you-” He was interrupted by an urgent squeal, and Invincible twisted his head to look at Pinwheel.
“Invincible! Wendigo, here, is no harm. He is actually a friend. We found him not long ago, before the earthquake. I told him he could join me, as we will have our own world in the future, and he agreed. He is no enemy. Let him go.”
Oh. In that case, Wendigo is a friend. Invincible nodded and released the cat.
“Well, thank you for telling me. I was about to rip his throat out. Welcome, Wendigo. In order to become one of us, though, you have to go through the Mark and Mask ceremony. Please, repeat after me.”
Wendigo repeated the oath, and they clawed each other’s throats and Invincible gave him the gear.
Wendigo touched his skull mask in astonishment. “Wow. This is . . . insane,” He meowed, speechless.
Invincible smiled when something caught his eye. Pinwheel was walking, his gaze blank as he stumbled across the clearing. Rapier, Invincible, and Wendigo looked in shock as the kit yowled, “Hello? Where am I? Invincible? Rapier! Brother, are you there? Wendigo!”
Invincible cocked his head. Can’t he see us? But his eyes stayed blank as if he was looking at a whole different world.
Rapier snapped out of his trance first and raced to his brother. “Pinwheel! Pinwheel! I’m here! Can you see me?”
Pinwheel twisted around, his blank gaze filled with sparks of terror. His ears were pricked as if he was hearing something. Invincible let out a low growl.
“Pinwheel! Pinwheel!” Rapier kept screaming, prodding Pinwheel in the flanks. Pinwheel’s body twitched as if he could somehow feel Rapier, but showed no other sign of it. Then, suddenly, he broke into a fearful run, and his yowl broke Invincible’s heart in two.
“I summon the Black-and-White Tiger! I summon the Black-and-White Tiger!” Invincible tried with all his power to get summoned into where Pinwheel was, but he just couldn’t do it. With horror, he realized he could not reach Pinwheel, wherever he was.
The kit suddenly broke into a faster pace.
“Help!”
He stopped in his tracks and turned his head as if he was looking at something. His cloudy eyes widened, and he screamed. “Uraza!”
Invincible heard a gasp from Rapier. “Uraza? Pinwheel, what- please, wake up!” he yowled. Pinwheel dropped to the ground, struggling as if something was holding him down.
Invincible hissed and bowled Pinwheel over. “What is happening to you? Whatever is hurting you, come out and face me, you fool! I dare you!” He howled with intolerable fury. Pinwheel gave a few more feeble kicks, and then his gaze turned normal and he blinked wearily at Invincible and the others.
Rapier launched himself at Pinwheel, and Invincible stepped back, letting the brothers reunite.
“Pinwheel! Pinwheel! What in the world happened? You were screaming, yowling, saying ‘Pinwheel' and 'help.’ You also said ‘I summon the Black-and-White Tiger.’ But Invincible didn’t know where you were, so he couldn’t! It was like . . . it was like you were somewhere else. Like you were seeing something we couldn’t. You . . . you were running away from something. Oh, Pinwheel, and then you dropped to the ground like you were being held down by something. Are you alright? What happened?"
Invincible stepped forward and gently pushed Rapier aside. “Give him space. Whatever he encountered, it terrorized him. We need to let him calm down. Touching him won’t help. Let Pinwheel explain when he’s ready,” he ordered.
“Red Eyes . . . the vines,” Pinwheel muttered. Invincible listened in bewilderment.
“Not safe . . . danger in every turn . . . Red Eyes!” The kit gasped. He squealed suddenly and leaped to his paws, running as fast as he could, and stopped himself before he crashed into a tree.
“What do you mean, Red Eyes? Killer Vines? Did you see anything else?” Rapier and Invincible shot after him.
“Yes. Yes, I did. I saw Fake Uraza. She was hurt. Sad. Devastated when she saw me. Not happy! She was fearful. We need to find her!” Pinwheel wailed.
“I don’t know what just happened. I’m as confused as all of you. But it was like . . . was like . . . it was like a dark, gloomy version of the land around us. Like . . . the center of the land. The Core. Yes, the Core. And there is evil in every pawstep of it.”
The Core?
Invincible narrowed his eyes. “Pinwheel, this is a mystery, and I promise we will solve it. But for now, I must go. I have my own mission to make. Call for me, Rapier and Wendigo, if Pinwheel acts like he’s having . . . I don’t know, just that we do know that he fails to get me when he is in there. In the Core.”
He teleported back to the others in a flash. They were sitting a little ways away, talking and murmuring to each other in worry. When Invincible walked to the shore of the Salt Pool where they were sitting, they leaped to their paws and yowled in joy and relief. “Invincible! You’re back!”
“Where were you?”
“What happened?”
“Where did you go?”
Invincible waved his tail at the crowding cats. “Silence!” he called. They quieted down, listening.
“Pinwheel and Rapier were in trouble. They summoned me, and they were in danger. I helped them, but I really am worried about them. Pinwheel was in . . . in a strange world that even I couldn’t get into. But . . . we must move forward.”
He ignored the cats’ terrified glances and looked toward Hafter. “I forgot to mention,” he dipped his head. “Do you have a . . . Great Fishing Cat? Like- a Spirit that looks after you, guides you. I’d love to meet it, if so,” he meowed.
Hafter nodded. “Yes, we do. But . . . it’s hard to make him summon. You have to pull out a whisker. It kind of hurts.” Hafter wrinkled his muzzle.
Invincible purred. “Leave that to me.”
Without hesitation, he yanked one of his sleek whiskers from its place on his muzzle, dropping it on the ground without a single spark of pain. In a pool of mist, the spirit form of a small white version of he fishing cat, bigger than the rest, appeared and smiled at Invincible.
“Hello. I am the Great Fishing Cat, and I have been summoned,” he said.
Invincible nodded respectfully. “Hello, Great Fishing Cat. I am pleased to meet you. I have a request for you. I’d like you to join me on my quest, to embark on a great journey to gather all Great Cats and their species. I already have the Cheetahs, Caracals, and regular Fishing Cats. Now I want to have you on my side. Tell me, Great Fishing Cat, would you like to join your fellow species with me? It really would be worth it. Trust me.”
The Great Fishing Cat cocked his head in thought.
“I do believe my fishing cats are willing to join you. If that is so, I will work with you along with them and be a part of your army. My real name is Jagged, and I agree; the fishing cats should be with you.”
Invincible grinned in satisfaction. “I honor your decision, Jagged, for we will be the greatest force this world has ever known. Please take the Mark and Mask ceremony with me and you will officially join your fishing cats as one of us. Invincible’s Army,” he purred.
They quickly did the ceremony, repeating words and slashing throats. Jagged smiled again and flicked the armor off.
“I do not need this armor right now, but I respect all you have given to the fishing cats. We are one with you, Invincible. All of us.”
With a flick of Jagged’s tail, Fishing Cats streamed in through every direction, racing toward him with gear on as if they invisibly took the ceremony. With howls of joy and dipping heads of respect, they sat with the three tigers, cheetahs, and caracals, and sat, excited and eager.
Invincible looked at the sky and howled, and the chorus rose as the cats copied him, and the sound of victory filled the night. Invincible and the others climbed into the bowl and drifted to sleep.
314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfHJIei2zFc
