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| - Even after Holly is gone, and the cats have been put to work, Fire is still giddy. "Rainbow, we're going on a journey! To the pool!" "Yes, Fire, I know." I share a glance with Flare who looks amused. "Fire, calm down." She says, poking Fire with her tail. Fire is still too excited. "We're going on a journey!" She says again, this time in a whisper. "Yes, I know. And if you don't shut up, I'll leave you here and take Bliz instead." "But what about what Holly said?" "I don't care. I'll take Bliz and leave you here, alright? Now, calm down." "Fine." Fire closes her eyes, and when she opens them, all her nervous energy from before seems to have vanished. "Okay, so what do we do now?" "We pick the ten cats, Fir. Didn't you listen to Holly?" I ask, rolling my eyes. "I was excited." She says wistfully, and I tap her with my tail. "It's okay. It's always okay to act like me, Fire." I say, and Flare laughs. "Okay, whatever. So which ten cats are we taking?" "Definitely Breeze." Bliz says, waving his tail. "Of course." I say. "As well as Nectar and Jay." "That leaves us seven cats to pick and choose." Flare says quietly. "How are we going to do it?" Fire asks, looking worried. "Cats are going to be offended if we don't pick them." "I don't know Fire. I don't know." I answer. I'm starting to feel nervous - what are we going to do? We can only pick 10 cats - "Wait." I say. "What if we chose Flare and Blizzard to come with us?" I ask Fire, hoping mentally that she would say yes. But she shakes her head. "We can't. Holly said it would only be us. And plus, someone needs to stay here to take care of the camp." "I'll go with you guys, and Flare can stay here," says Blizzard. "She probably doesn't care to go anyway." At that, Flare swats him with her tail. "Blizzard, shut up. I'd like to go as much as you would." Flare says. "But seriously - who should we take?" I ask, pulling Blizzard a few inches away from Flare. "How are we going to choose?" "Rainbow, wait." Fire says. "Holly said that 10 cats are going, right?" "She said we could take 10 cats." "Well, we could. So why don't we just take those three - Nectar, Jay, and Breeze - and then leave the rest here? It's only a test drive, and we could use the pool too." "But what about the cats that don't go?" "Every cat will get a chance anyway, so it doesn't really matter. We'll just tell them that it's a test drive - which, technically, it is." Fire says. "But we need to find a way to keep them happy." "Rain, there's really no need." Blizzard says. "Like Fire said, they're all getting the chance anyway, so it won't matter." "Are you sure yo-" "Yes, I'm sure." He says flicking my ear with his tail. "Don't overthink anything, Rain. Everything will be fine." "Fine." I say sighing. Turning back to Fire, I'm unable to stifle my grin. "We'll have to tell them sooner or later, Fir. Come on." ~ "That was surprisingly easy, wasn't it?" Fire asks me as we wash in the pre-dawn light. "I guess." I say, annoyed. "What's the point in going this early?" I ask, and Fire laughs softly. "We leave early morning if we want to return here by late afternoon. Breeze, Nectar, and Jay's parents wouldn't appreciate their kits gone overnight." "But we're the leaders." I say perplexed. "They can trust us." "Of course they can. They do, Rain." "Then why wouldn't they want them...?" "Rain, if we had to go somewhere, would you rather have me back as soon as possible, or stay there for longer?" "Back as soon as possible. Duh." "Same reasoning for them." Not replying, I pull Fire over to where the three cats are sleeping soundly. "Fire, I'll wake them up, alright?" She nods and takes a step back. "Breeze." I say, shaking the little tom. "Breeze, we have to leave." Breeze opens his green eyes and stares at her for a moment. "Rainbow? Is that you?" He whispers. "Breeze, we're leaving, alright? Come on." I help him out of his nest. "Wash yourself, Breeze. I'll wake up Nectar and Jay." The tom nods his head and I turn to the sleeping forms of a tom and a she-cat - Jay and Nectar. "Jay. Nectar." I say, waking them both up. "We're leaving now, alright?" After realizing that they're actually going on the journey, they both are ready in a flash. I gather the three of them and bring them to Fire, who is talking to someone. "Holly?" I ask. The she-cat nods her head. She seems to be in a deep conversation with Fire, and I keep the three little cats out of their way - I can tell that it's something important, and something that they don't need to know. "Ready?" I ask when Fire comes to me after Holly dissolves. She nods her head. "Let's go, guys. We have a journey ahead of us." I turn back to the three cats, and they look at me, their eyes wide. I smile. "Ready guys?" I ask. "Yes!" They answer simultaneously, and they start running after Fire. "Let the journey begin." I whisper to myself, before running after Breeze, Nectar, and Jay. ~ "Fire, are you sure that we're going the right way?" I ask, trying not to sneeze as the long grass tickles my nose. "This looks like an awful place." I say, making a face. "It's a moor, Rainbow. You've been in one; you know what it is. Now deal with it." She says, stepping over the grass to keep it from poking her. "Yeah, and what about the little ones?" I hear a wail from behind me, and see that Jay has gotten stuck. I pick him up, setting him down in front of me. Making sure that I can see Breeze and Nectar, I focus on killing the grass under my paws. "What about them?" Fire asks, looking up at the mid-morning sun. "The grass is too tall for them. They can barely see." Fire stops for a moment while I show her what they have it like. "And I can barely see them myself." "So what can we do, Rainbow?" "We could carry them." I say, picking up Nectar and handing her to Fire. "But there's three of them, and only two of us." "I'll get two. You need to take us there, after all." I pick up Breeze and Nectar; the latter has almost fallen asleep. "Nectar, go to sleep." I whisper. "You'll be fine." The little she-cat nods her head before closing her eyes. Her breathing soon becomes steady, and I can feel Breeze's eyes on me as I walk. "Rainbow?" "Yes?" "Are we there yet?" "I don't know." I say apologetically. "You'll have to ask Fire." "Oh. Okay." He doesn't sound disappointed at all. "You should go to sleep, Breeze. I'll wake you up when we get there." But he shakes his head. "I want to see the scenery." I shrug, but remain silent as I follow Fire through the seemingly endless moor. ~ "Nectar, wake up!" I shake her until she opens her eyes. "Come on, we're almost there!" At that, she jumps up instantly and looks at me, her eyes shining. "Where is it?" She asks, and I point to a cave a few hundred feet away. "Right in that cave over there. You'll be one of the first to get your destiny revealed by the future." I say, smiling. She smiles back. "Now come on." I beckon for Breeze, Jay, and Fire. "Let's go. It's right there, guys!" I start running, and they follow me. "Come on, Breeze! You can beat them!" Breeze runs by my side, behind Rainbow, Jay, and Nectar. "I want to run with you, Rainbow." He says, his eyes huge, and I feel a surge of pride - I don't even know why. It might be because of the fact that he'd rather stick with me. "Then we'll make this exciting." I say as we reach the mouth of the cave. "It'll be Breeze and Rainbow's journey." I wrap my tail around him before walking up to the cave's edge - and to where the darkness started. ~
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