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Four days had passed since Pinwheel was caught.
Though infuriated, he could not risk being caught escaping by the Sleek. The Sleek herself warned him, and his muzzle still stung from the blow. She could bring him into the Core anytime before he could blink.
He pulled on his collar, but of course, it refused to even shift on his neck. Stupid collar. Stupid dragons.
Pinwheel and Rapier stayed in their den all day long, and Pinwheel was bored out of his mind. Guards occasionally came in about once a day to give him and Rapier either a mouse or vole to share and then they would leave for the day.
Pinwheel’s stomach growled, and for long moments he thought about charging out of the den before the guards could react, or whisper Invincible’s name. But . . . there was a problem about each of those plans. Whether he charged out or transformed or not, The Sleek could just throw him back in the Core and hurt Mist and whatnot.
Stupid Sleek.
Let alone Invincible. Pinwheel wasn’t sure whether to trust what The Sleek had said about Invincible being captured. If that wasn’t the craziest news he ever heard, no news would be. Invincible? Captured? Nope. Impossible. The Sleek had to be lying. But he couldn’t risk it. He just had to sit here in this den, doing absolutely nothing, waiting for time to tick. His thoughts and his brother were pretty much his entire entertainment.
But something just wasn’t right! It was like the whole world had a vibe in the air that said “Invincible is not captured! SUMMON HIM AND ESCAPE!”
Not to mention his patrol. WHAT TOOK THE TRIBE SO LONG TO FIGURE OUT THAT THEY SHOULD TRY TO FIND PINWHEEL BECAUSE HE’S NOT COMING BACK SO MAYBE THEY SHOULD TRY TO FIND HIM WITH THEIR MAGIC POWERS AND STUFF?! Midnight and Garden could make a path to him like they did when they went to find him and Lichen, and then Owl could hang onto Holo or something so Holo could run to where he and Rapier were, and Owl could fly him or Rapier and then the other could ride Holo before the Sleek could even know what’s going on and UGH WHAT IN THE MOONS AND METEORS ARE THEY DOING?!
His claws sank into the earth, fury boiling in his chest. He thought about Uraza. He thought about Mist. He should be willing to die for them. What was he doing? Mist saved him. I’m pathetic. I have to do something.
It took a moment for him to hear the pawsteps thudding toward his den. He and Rapier shifted but barely reacted when Sleek skidded in front of the entrance. “Bring them,” she ordered, then whoosed back around and padded toward the clearing. Something about her was… rushed, Pinwheel thought, but he was then shoved roughly out of the den along with his brother, and they were surrounded by a circle of Guards to the clearing where something was… in the center.
The Guards then turned straight at him, and he hissed, swiping his front paw defensively. The Guards ignored him, and the more he fought, the more Guards came to push him to the middle of the clearing. Glancing back, a few Guards stayed to encircle Rapier, not bothering to move him any further, but before Pinwheel could wonder, the crouched shape in the center caught his eye once more and he whipped his gaze around to see what looked like a very battered version of Wendigo moaning on the ground with his eyes closed, and Pinwheel realized it was Wendigo.
Rapier wasn’t lying. How dare Sleek do that to my friend.
Wendigo was covered in fairly fresh scratches which looked like there were fewer strands of fur on his pelt than the cuts that engulfed his coat. Pinwheel felt a low, enraged growl rising in his throat, though the Guards carefully hovered a whisker-length beside him, ready to start forward if he so much as twitched his paw.
But that wasn’t the problem. Wendigo never stopped moaning and gasping as if there was a parasite in his body. Pinwheel stared in horror at his friend, wanting to close his eyes, though he was rooted to the spot.
Sleek suddenly stepped in front of his ray of vision, her eyes troubled and gleaming with a challenge. Pinwheel returned the glare as if he could somehow make Sleek read his mind so her could tell her with his mind how much he hated her.
I’m not afraid of you, or a dumb Spirit Guard of yours. Come at me, Sleek the Second, or whoever you are. I’ll figure out how to defeat you. I’ll make sure that your kind of evil never wins.
“Care to tell us what’s happening to him, Weird?” Sleek snarled. After Pinwheel wouldn’t respond for a moment, Sleek took a threatening step forward. “Giving us the quiet treatment won’t-,”
Pinwheel looked around in mock confusion. “Weird? Who’s Weird? I don’t know who that is. And even if I did, how would he know what’s happening to him? I don’t think anyone knows. I don’t know, by the way,” he said.
Sleek narrowed her eyes. “Oh. You want to play that game, do you?”
Pinwheel met her glare. “Why not? It seems like you’re also playing that game as well. I told you, my name is-,” Pinwheel paused. Sleek was suddenly . . . she was biting her paw.
What in the stars . . .
Something was wrong with her eyes and the way she simply moved. Her teeth closed around her paw, clearly biting hard, and Sleek let out a muffled screech through her own jaws. She then pulled the now-bleeding paw out of her mouth and reached it up with unsheathed claws to slash her muzzle, and then her ear, and despite the scratches on her face, she remained seated, her eyes bulging with pain and fury.
At first, Pinwheel had no idea what he was looking at, but then he turned his head and saw that Wendigo’s eyes were a glowing pink, glaring at Sleek and no longer on the ground.
Sleek turned around almost too perfectly and sat down, facing Wendigo, although her eyes kept bulging as if she was trying to fight her own body’s movements. Wendigo padded toward her, though Sleek didn’t twitch her tail, and neither did the Guards or any cat beside him and Rapier. The Guards beside him had also sat down, and the cats around Rapier parted away so Rapier could bound toward his brother, but Pinwheel was focused on Sleek and Wendigo.
“How does it feel for you to be beaten and scratched, hm?” Wendigo snarled, his voice edged with fury. “I have nothing to do with you guys at all. I’m a nobody. You used me as a method to make Rapier tell you everything in your stupid trial against his own will. I see what they both mean; you’re nothing but a leader of a stupid group of cats who don’t care about anyone’s emotions- or feelings- except your own. You deserve all the karma that should come to you.”
He flicked his tail in a forward motion, and Sleek was suddenly launched into the air and into the forest, unable to yowl her fury.
Pinwheel, dazed, was suddenly nudged by Wendigo, and he snapped out of his trance. “I know what you’re wondering, and I’ll explain it later. But, right now, you’re welcome, escape plan is solved,” Wendigo snarled urgently.
Rapier licked Wendigo’s shoulder from behind him apologetically. “I’m sorry, Wendigo, it’s my faul-,”
“No, no, this is not your fault. Let’s have this conversation when we escape, okay?” Wendigo cut him off.
Pinwheel could feel the glares of the Sleek cats on them. How did Wendigo do that? It’s just like how I suddenly got the power to shapeshift. I wonder if what happened to Wendigo is connected to what happened to me.
His thoughts were interrupted when the corner of his eye caught a faint, glowing red light on the edge of the camp clearing. Pinwheel turned to look at it, confused and drawn to it at the same time when a faint sound of pawsteps sounded in the distance.
Pinwheel snapped out of his thoughts on the red light and looked in the direction of the pawsteps, Rapier and Wendigo also looking the same way.
Eyes glowered at them from the hedges and then shapes burst out of them, immediately leaping at the frozen guards and killing them in one swift blow with brute strength. Wendigo was just as distracted as Pinwheel and Rapier, and his control was lost on the Sleek cats who remained alive. They scrambled to their feet, jolted into new terror, and raced out of camp as fast as they could.
“Pinwheel…,” said a voice from the bushes, where the armored shapes appeared from. Pinwheel looked at the spot where he heard his name called, and an orange-and-black pelt stepped out with a solemn, relieved expression.
Pinwheel recognized Chara as the tiger padded toward him, the Dewdrop Tribe patrol behind her, and he was about to smile and greet Chara, relieved, when he noticed something wasn’t right. No… he spotted two shapes perching on Chara’s spine.
He stopped short, his eyes widening. His fur bristled; his eyes turned into narrow slits.
So. I didn’t kill them all.
Those were little dragons riding on Chara.
“Please tell me you either haven’t noticed those things on you, or I’m just hallucinating right now,” Pinwheel growled.
Chara’s gaze turned a bit alarmed, as if she forgot to worry about this subject. She looked back at the two small dragons, one a dark black color and the other a frosty white, and then looked back, speaking hurriedly. “They’re not the dragons you think they are, Pinwheel, I promise- after you-,” she hesitated the slightest bit. “After you killed all the others, me and the patrol went up to try and find you. When we realized you were gone, we had hardly begun to do anything about it before these guys appeared. I promise they won’t be raised like the other dragons. I’ll make sure of that. Just give them a chance, Pinwheel,” Chara said.
Pinwheel growled. “Obviously you haven’t been at the dragon’s kingdom while they were alive.” Pinwheel gestured to his collar and then flicked his scarred ear. “Those animals gave me a scar that I’ll carry for life. There’s no way you’ll get me to agree with keeping mini versions of them ali-,”
“Pinwheel. I’ve been wanting to apologize to you for the recent situations I’ve left you in. I’m so sorry.”
A familiar voice spoke from behind him. Suddenly, Pinwheel forgot all about the hatchlings and snapped his head to the voice. He almost gaped in surprise.
Invincible was standing two tail-lengths away from him, two big cats flanking the tiger, one Pinwheel recognized as- he thought- Calzar. Invincible's expression seemed more solemn than usual, and he looked at Pinwheel with a bit of a frown.
“I-Invincible… what happened to you?!” he exclaimed. “I couldn’t- I couldn’t summon you, I-,”
“Everything's alright, Pinwheel I have defeated my Streak once and for all, as they were the ones responsible for my absence. They captured the Great Tiger, causing me to lose my powers, and then they thought they could keep me and my entire army locked away in their camp. But don’t worry about that right now. I won in the end, as I always do.” A hint of a slightly fake-looking smile showed on Invincible’s face, despite everything, then faded into another solemn expression as he glanced at Pinwheel’s collar. “I’m sorry… all of this was my fault. I can get that… strap off your neck if you wish-,”
“No,” Pinwheel cut him off. Invincible blinked. “You won’t be able to get this off. It’s an enchanted collar, so don’t even bother to try.”
Pinwheel turned his back on the tiger. He knew it would be hopeless for even Invincible to get it off.
Before Invincible could respond, Loyal padded forward and looked at both Pinwheel and Wendigo.
“I have a theory about your sudden powers, you two.” He addressed them with his glare. “You’ve sprouted your Power. Pinwheel, you seem to have the Power of Shapeshifting, and Wendigo, it looks like you have the Power of Mind Control. This means that you both have the blood of a Dewdrop Tribe member. I’m positive Gaze will welcome you if you show him your skills, and then you can use that Power of yours to help the Tribe as much as possible,” he meowed.
Pinwheel and Wendigo looked at each other before Loyal continued.
“I believe you two are related to a Dewdrop Tribe member since you both naturally grew out your Power. I wonder who,” Loyal smiled.
“Wait, what about me?” Rapier cut in before Pinwheel could think about Loyal’s statement. “Perhaps my Power is coming more slowly, right? I haven’t found myself doing anything unnatural yet- but I’m sure that will change. Right?” Rapier blinked at Loyal expectantly.
Loyal’s smile seemed to have lowered a bit as he glanced at Rapier.
“That’s possible,” he began slowly, “but the chances are also that of you not getting a Power at all… in most cases, littermates get their Power at the same time, unless their Power grows unusually slowly, or there’s no Power in their blood at all. Mostly, in that case, it’s… having no Power. I’m sorry if that turns out to be true.” Loyal grimaced as Rapier’s expression faded into despair.
“But… that doesn’t make sense… I’m even older than Pinwheel! Why wouldn’t I get a Power?”
Before Loyal could respond, Rapier continued.
“I think I know who’s in the Dewdrop Tribe that’s related to us, in any case…,” he started.
That got Pinwheel’s attention. “What?!” he exclaimed. “Who, Rapier? You’ve never even been at the Dewdrop Tribe’s camp-,” Pinwheel paused as Rapier turned and looked at him, his expression solemn and almost unrecognizable.
“A while ago, when I had just arrived here, I had a dream. I saw Invincible, but I couldn’t touch him, let alone get him to notice me. But then, it brought me to where you were at the moment… I’m guessing it was the Dewdrop Tribe since there were many odd-looking cats around you. I recognized one cat, though; it was our father. I was hardly born yet, but I remember Uraza called him Patch, and, all so suddenly, Patch and Uraza got in a fight, while you were still yet to be born, and Patch left the Sleek. He never came back. But I recognized him- he was with you, but then I woke up. So that would probably explain it.” Rapier sighed, looking at his frontpaws.
Pinwheel was practically gaping. Rapier had just told him that he had met his father and didn’t notice- the memory flooded back to him now. The cat who could tell the truth from lies… he had said his name was Patch. That was probably- most definitely him- and Pinwheel didn’t notice. How could he? He had never met his father. Pinwheel had thought he felt a bit… familiar, but he hadn’t done anything about it. After all, he was dragged into the Core soon after and discovered Rapier was missing.
Invincible then took a step forward, interrupting Pinwheel’s racing thoughts. “Rapier, I apologize for not… noticing you in your dream. Though, I can promise you, even if you don’t get your ‘Power,' I assure you I will give you power. Don’t you remember the ceremony?”
With a lash of Invincible’s tail, the gear from the Mark and Mask appeared on Pinwheel and Rapier’s pelts. Pinwheel blinked, caught off guard as he was suddenly covered in hard, spiky armor. Rapier showed an expression similar to his.
“I promised you power! In no time, now that we’re done with this disaster, you’d fit right in with the Dewdrop Tribe, even if you don’t have your own unique Power. I’ll make sure of that!” Invincible exclaimed.
“Now, Pinwheel, I’ve heard you’ve been through a lot with these so-called dragons, but you can stop worrying about that, let alone these two hatchlings. You’ve killed the whole kingdom of dragons, isn’t that right? You don’t have to be worried about them at all anymore. You’ve already avenged yourself against the dragons. I trust Chara’s word on taking care of the hatchlings- they shouldn’t be any harm to you at all, right?” Invincible looked at him.
The subject of the hatchlings sprouted back into Pinwheel’s mind, his fur starting to bristle once more, but then he realized Invincible’s words and paused.
Maybe he’s right… I have taken revenge on those horrible creatures. Should I forgive these hatchlings?
Pinwheel thought for a long moment, awkward silence seeming to echo across the forest, and then finally sighed. “Alright. I’ll give them a chance,” Pinwheel said with a bit of a snarl.
“Where’s Lichen?” He then asked, looking around.
“I’m right here.” Lichen stepped out of the group of Dewdrop Tribe cats, and Pinwheel immediately smiled as he saw her, making his armor vanish.
“Lichen!” He bounded up to her, nuzzling her and licking her cheek affectionately. “I missed you so much… promise me you won’t leave me like that again, will you?”
Relief and happiness flooded through his whole body, his heart flapping around in his chest. He couldn’t remember the last time he truly felt like this. Suddenly, Lichen was the only cat he wanted to be with right now, so he could be happy, be accompanied by her, and feel like this forever.
He realized he was purring loud enough for basically everyone to hear, but he didn’t care; Lichen was purring as well, which made him purr even louder.
After another long moment, they both stepped back and turned back to the others, though their shoulders were almost touching.
Invincible looked at them with an almost unrecognizable expression, a hint of sorrow gleaming in his eyes. Rapier and Wendigo stood by each other, also smiling at Pinwheel and Lichen, and the black hatchling then leaped off Chara’s haunches, the white hatchling following in the black one’s steps, and the black hatchling padded up to Pinwheel and nuzzled his shoulder as if it took a liking to him. It was almost as tall as him. The white hatchling reared up and nipped Pinwheel’s ear before he could react to the black one, and Lichen started giggling.
Pinwheel hesitated, then smiled and gently batted the white hatchling off of his ear, which was now a bit wet with the hatchling’s slobber, and he flicked the droplets off.
“Well, I’d be happy to escort everyone out of this place, and perhaps I-,”
Invincible was interrupted as the soft sound of pawsteps came from outside the camp, which was progressively getting closer.
Invincible immediately started to growl, and Pinwheel tensed, preparing to transform, when a huge, familiar group of cats burst from what seemed like all sides, with a cat Pinwheel recognized in the front.
Gaze and the Dewdrop Tribe were here.
Invincible seemed to have recognized at least some of them as well, and he stopped growling and fixed his eyes on a dusty-green-colored Tribe cat.
Pinwheel didn’t waste a moment. “Gaze! Is Patch with you?” Pinwheel raced up to the leader, and Gaze looked at him with what looked like a relieved expression.
“Pinwheel! I’m glad to see you’re alright. And yes, Patch is right over there. Why?”
Pinwheel turned at where Gaze flicked his tail toward, and he caught the coat of Patch in the crowd of Dewdrop Tribe members.
“I believe Patch is my father, Gaze,” Pinwheel answered.
Before Gaze could respond, Pinwheel bounded up to Patch to where the cat noticed him, turning his head and looking at Pinwheel. Pinwheel noticed that he looked a bit uncomfortable at first in the Sleek’s camp, but that didn’t stop him.
He stopped in front of Patch, feeling all sorts of mixed emotions.
“Hello, Patch,” he said, using almost all his focus to keep his voice steady.
Patch smiled at him, looking a bit confused. “Hi, Pinwheel,” he replied. “How are you?”
Ignoring his question, Pinwheel asked his own. “Are you… are you my father? Was Uraza your former mate?” he blurted, anticipation flooding into his heart as Patch’s eyes seemed to dilate in recognition.
“I was mates with Uraza… what do you… are you… son?” Patch gasped, meeting Pinwheel’s gaze.
Pinwheel nodded, his heart seemingly swimming to the bottom of his throat. “I was born a bit after my brother, Rapier. Uraza is my mother,” he responded, smiling.
Patch seemed speechless for a moment. “I remember… Uraza was still yet to have a kit of mine when I left,” he meowed finally. “You are my son.” His eyes brightened, and Pinwheel’s heart seemed to swell.
“It’s so nice to meet you, father. Please, come meet Rapier as well, will you?” He beckoned to where Rapier, Wendigo, Chara, Invincible, and the hatchlings were.
Patch nodded with an expression that looked excited and nervous at the same time. Before they reached the group, Rapier noticed them, and his expression immediately blossomed with surprise and nervousness. The others turned and looked at Pinwheel and Patch, mainly at Patch, their gazes unreadable.
“Rapier! My, you’ve grown so much since the last time I’ve seen you!” Patch exclaimed.
Rapier opened his mouth, closed it, and then repeated that before he finally spoke.
“Is it really you?” he asked shakily.
“It is,” Patch replied, smiling softly.
“I never thought I’d see you again… you left...,” Rapier stammered.
Before Patch could reply, a dark, familiar voice crept into Pinwheel’s ears, whispering one word into them.
“Pinwheel.”
Pinwheel jumped, startled, as he heard the familiar voice. His head snapped to where it came from, and he gasped softly.
The glowing red light at the edge of the clearing… it was as if the bushes and trees had minds of their own because it had cleared out of the way of what seemed like a portal- and at the entrance, staring at him, was the shadowy form of Red Eyes, before it cackled softly, stepped into the red portal, and vanished into it.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
