The smoke cleared slowly, revealing the fallen youngsters.
The forest turned silent, broken only by rapid, uneven breathing. They were bruised and failed.
Conrad was the first one to stand up.
He wiped the dirt off his face and tried to feel his back where the flag used to be. His posture tightened, not just in anger, but also in disbelief and failure.
"...They're gone."
No reply.
Freya stood up, dirt on her clothes and face. She retracted her claws back in.
"Tch," she muttered. "Annoying." She exclaimed, "If only you guys could act any quicker and had better abilities, this wouldn't have happened!"
"Not like you did any good with your paws getting stuck on a rope, couldn't your meow senses sense that. And then you got your claws stuck into the sword! And now you're framing us for this," Conrad shouted angrily after being fed up with Freya's meowing.
She didn't speak, realising her mistake.
Lumian stood silent.
He started analysing the battlefield–he looked around the bush and trees to find something that could help them.
It wasn't any lucky ambush; it was a coldly planned one. Swift and efficient.
The message kept hovering around their faces.
[Black team lost their Flag.]
[Point earning has been suspended for now.]
[Get back your flag or steal a flag to start earning.]
[Current points: 150]
[Time remaining: |1:32:26| ]
Alina broke the silence, her quiet voice finally spoke, "So… what do we do now?"
Freya laughed softly, "What else? We hunt now."
Conrad hesitated, but spoke. "And what if they lead us to another trap, and you get caught again?"
Freya turned to him, her pupils constricted, "Then don't slow me down this time."
Lumian finally spoke.
"No."
Everyone looked at him.
"We don't hunt or chase," he continued calmly. "Not yet."
Freya's red eyes narrowed. "You got something better, white head?"
Lumian pointed at the bush, "They were always there; it wasn't a lucky one, it was planned."
"We all know this Lumian. What does this have to do with anything related to not hunting?" Freya scoffed.
Lumian continued, "It does. Firstly, hunting is for hounds, according to you, since you're the leader–"
"I am the leader!" Interrupted Conrad.
"You are, but she's the 'actual' leader if you get." Lumian continued, "And since, according to you, we are cats, we don't hunt, we wait and then prey on them. Isn't that what tigers do?"
"And how exactly do you want to achieve this?" asked Freya.
"Simple, we just wander around and pray." Answered Lumian.
"So you want to hope for the best? That's not going to work." Debated Freya.
"Then what other plan do you have?" Asked Lumian.
Freya shrugged.
"Does everyone agree to follow me and wander around the forest?" Lumian asked everyone.
Everyone except one person agreed. Obviously, it's still Freya in disagreement.
"I don't really care what you do, but I'm not part of this plan. I'm going on my own." Freya said as she pounced on the trees and left.
"Well, that's the most energetic cat I've ever seen," said Conrad.
"So, you may think this plan is luck-based, well, most of it is, but the rest of it is not." Said Lumian. "You may ask how? Well, we do have a map; it's in the details of the Dream, if you check. We can use this map and check the best places people would be. And from what I can see, the best place is the mountain up front."
"That sounds solid," agreed Alina.
Lumian nodded, "If everyone agrees, we can keep moving, but don't be slow."
They started heading for the mountain up front.
They were only a few metres in, then a message popped up.
[Time remaining: 1:30:00]
[Current ranks revealed.]
[ Ranks:
1. Team Orange - 467
2. Team Red - 359
3. Team Yellow - 316
4. Team Purple - 295
5. Team Green - 289
6. Team Brown - 263
7. Team Blue - 214
8. Team Pink - 180
9. Team Black - 154
10. Team Cyan - 116 ]
We stopped for a second to check through the rankings. "We're on the brink of extinction," I said.
"We're second to last, we really need this plan to work, or else all of us are dead!" Conrad pointed out to Lumian.
Alvin finally spoke. "I believe this plan will work. Let's not stop here and keep moving."
Alvin's first words gave them some hope to keep on moving.
They quickly started moving towards the mountain. The mountain is still far away from where they are, but looking at the pace they're moving at, they'll reach it in time.
Now, only luck has to be on their side.
The mountain appeared to get bigger and bigger as time passed by.
They were swiftly moving across the dense forest and using the moon to guide their way.
After almost an hour had passed by, they spotted a few dots sparkling from the moonlight, on the mountain…They are people.
This made them trust Lumian more and more, and they had a newly found motivation to keep moving.
"Look, Lumian. There are a few people on the mountain." Alina spoke with sparkling eyes.
"I knew it would work," Lumian said with a smile.
They were now at the foot of the mountain.
Lumian checked the time to make sure they had enough to climb and rush the team on the mountain. The time remaining is almost 30 minutes.
"We have enough time to make it up and steal the flag. But stealing is not the hard part; keeping the flag is the hardest part." Lumian told his team.
"We have to use all our abilities and work together to pass this time. And most importantly, have faith in each other, even on the cat that left." Conrad motivated the others.
They began climbing the mountain, which wasn't very steep, but due to them running for an hour, they were tired out.
In no time, they reached near the top of the mountain.
The mountain was quite rocky, so they used a boulder to be unnoticeable to the other team.
The other team could be seen; they were fairly close to them, but far enough not to be seen. This time, they could thoroughly analyse the other team and find any loopholes they could.
This time, they were sure they wouldn't get caught and trapped, at least that's what they wished.
Alvin stiffened suddenly.
"Lumian," he whispered.
Two flags fluttered with two different people.
Not one.
Two.
Silence fell over the group.
Lumian exhaled slowly before speaking.
"This just became better than I expected," he said. "Everyone–listen carefully."