Finally, the brambles burned enough so that Snow and Surf could easily jump over them. Surf extinguished the last of the flames with Surf, causing Inferno to squeal and try to climb a tree. Surf bounded over the ashes of the brambles, raced up to me, and skidded to a halt with his nose touching mine and his fins rubbing mine. He leaned into me. "I was so worried about you..."
I welcomed his caresses, some of the panic of Clover's abduction melting away. Some. "Me too. But Clover's gone. She was taken by the Mandibuzz."
Surf pulled away in disbelief. His mouth was open slightly, whether from shock or he wanted to say something, I couldn't tell. Inferno fell from the tree with a soft thud. Surf ignored him and shook his head. "What do we do?"
I closed my eyes and took a breath. "We go back to camp, regroup, and track the Mightyenas. I have a definite feeling that they're in cahoots with the Mandibuzz. They must be going to the same place. We find the pack, we find Clover."
Snow finally mustered up the courage to jump out of the ring as well. "We'd need some serious help if we plan to save her."
I turned towards her. "Exactly. Back to camp. I think I might have an idea."
After a brief mental contact with Espeon to make sure the camp was safe, the six of us marched in and sat in a circle, Espeon and Umbreon joining between Bolt and Snow. There was an open spot next to Snow, where Clover normally sat.
I did my best to ignore that fact and continued. "Ok. Who here has good tracking skills?" Everyone stood up. I shook my head and sat back down again. Everyone else followed suit as I spoke. "Ok, never mind. Four Eevees in the Search Party. Myself, Snow, Espeon, and Umbreon.
Surf stood up again. "No way, Splash. I am not letting you out of my sight again until this threat is resolved."
I gently pushed him back into a sitting position with my tail. "Surf, the reason I want you here is that, 1. you can handle yourself in battle. If the camp came under attack, you'd be fine. 2. You're a good commander. If we do come under attack again, Bolt and Inferno would follow your instructions to the letter. I've seen you in action."
Inferno nodded in agreement. Surf looked at the ground in defeat. "Fine... But if you get hurt out there, I will never forgive myself. Understood?"
I smiled at him. "Yes, sir."
Snow stood up. "With all due respect, Splash, tracking her down is all well and good, but how are 8 Eevees going to stand up to 20 Mightyenas and a Mandibuzz? Who knows, there might be even more foes than that! We'd need some serious assistance!"
I turned towards her with serious eyes and a ghost of a smile. "I was just getting to that. I think that the Search Party should track Clover down, get a location, then come back. Then, Bolt, Inferno, and I will take a nap."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I watched Snow put her nose to the ground again, trotting along the scent trail of the Mightyena pack. Espeon was searching for Clover through brain waves, trying to get a hold of her by thought. Umbreon was keeping an eye out for danger. He said he hadn't had any more premonitions, but better safe than sorry.
I raised my head from the ground, looking at Espeon. "Anything?"
She shook her head. "Nothing. Something must be wrong. I might have found her, but she's not responding."
Snow's head jerked up. "Can you zero in on her location?" she said, much louder and quicker than usual.
Espeon shook her head again. "No. She'd have to tell me where she is, and I'm not close enough to her to wake her up."
I looked at Espeon, deducing what was going on. "So she's unconscious?"
"That's my best guess." Snow said nothing, just slowly returning to her tracking. Espeon sent a thought to me. "She's extremely upset over the loss of her best friend."
I sent a thought back while resuming tracking myself. "She's not dead, Espeon. You just said that."
The thought came back in a very quiet whisper. "I said that for Snow's benefit. She seems distraught now, but she's broken inside. Clover is the one Eevee she really trusted with all her heart. She trusts us, as well, but no one as much as Clover. I said that to keep her from breaking down even more. The truth is, I can't tell if she's alive or dead."
I thought nothing in response. My mind was blank. I could tell that Espeon was distinctly regretful that she sent that thought to me. I was worried enough. I focused on tracking the Mightyenas. If she was anywhere, they might tell us where... and if she was ok.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Time passed. How much, I wasn't sure. I was just trying to fix my mind on tracking. Any thoughts about Clover I shut out as fast as I could. They were all concerns, and concerns would only distract me and make me even more upset.
So caught up in tracking, I didn't notice that Snow had stopped until I bumped into her. She was frozen. Umbreon gasped. I could feel the fear and concern radiating off of Espeon in waves. I looked up and saw what everyone was concerned about. We were there. Umbreon finally spoke where no one else could. "...yeah. We're going to need that help."
Clover slowly came to consciousness. Her first feeling was that of pain. A lot of it. The second was that she was cold. Not the familiar kind of cold that she was used to, like ice from Snow, but a different kind of cold. She didn't like this new kind of cold.
Clover forced her eyes open. She saw shiny walls, like metal. She sensed no danger around her, no sign of the terrible man, his Mandibuzz, or any Mightyenas. Making herself stand up, despite how much it hurt, Clover turned around, making sure that she wasn't dreaming... or more accurately, having a nightmare. Blank metal walls on three sides around her. The floor was also metal, explaining the uncomfortable cold. Behind her was a cage door, comprised of metal bars. The gaps between them was far too small for her to slip through. She could stick her paw through, but not much else.
She used Synthesis to heal all of her cuts and scratches. The pain subsided. Clover took a shaky breath and looked around her cage again. There wasn't much. She had a total of three things in here: two red plastic... things that slightly resembled a Pitcher Plant, or a Weepinbell. They were bolted to the wall using more metal. There was metallic-smelling water in one and some brown mush in the other that smelled disgusting. The only other thing in this cage was... a sand box! Clover smiled. She may be captured, but there was no reason she should be uncomfortable here.
Having nothing else to do, Clover pawed at the sand, spilling it all over the floor of her cage. Trying not to think about the rest of the Clan, especially Snow, Clover dutifully smoothed out the sand with her tail, making sure it was even. Then, she went over to the water container thing. She hesitantly poked it with her paw, just to make sure it wouldn't hurt her. It didn't. She then set about slopping some of the water around the sand, making sure to leave a bit for herself. She wasn't sure when she would get more...
Wait. She was inside. No rain. No rain meant no water that would get in that red thing naturally... that had to mean that... humans came and gave her water! That wasn't good. From her experiences, humans = bad. That man had really hurt her. She was not keen on letting anyone near her.
Clover shivered and shook herself out, as if to get rid of the touch of that horrid man that she could still feel on her neck. If she was to protect herself, she'd better finish this project. Clover stood in the far corner of her cage and focused on the sand. It wasn't much, but it would have to work. The water that she had sprinkled on the ground helped the tall grass and flowers that Clover grew, making sure that all of them had thorns. She purposefully left a clear space from the door to the red things, so that her water could be refilled later. As terrifying as the notion was, Clover needed that water, both for herself and for her plants. For when the occasion arose that a human did come near her cage, Clover also wove a nice den of flowers, perfectly sized for her. The thorns faced away from where Clover would be walking, from her makeshift flower den, to the opposite corner, where Clover had grown some berry-yielding plants and herbs, to the red things, so that she could get more water later.
"There." Clover said quietly, partly to reassure herself, partly to hear something in this desolate place. It was unnervingly quiet in here. "Protection and comfort. Not exactly home, but it'll have to do until I escape."
"Escape?" a raspy voice said from a few feet away, making Clover nearly jump out of her skin. "There is no escape. Not for you, not for anyone."
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