Chapter 14: The Lost Meerkat

This particular earthquake seemed stronger than the last ones Misty had been through. The earth swayed and everything shook. Misty dug her paws into the ground, trying not to fall as the area shook tremendously. I'm gonna die! Misty thought in alarm. A tree fell near Misty, and, heart pounding, she shot away from it in fear, only to have another tree fall her way. Misty screamed as a branch whipped at her head, and she ducked down, covering her head with her paws. Help! Someone! she pleaded silently.
Something hit Misty in the head - it felt like a large rock. Misty's vision went blurry and she felt herself stumbled, but tried staying awake. Don't get knocked out, she instructed herself, fighting to stay on her paws. I gotta find a place to hide...
Misty kept blinking, trying to clear her vision as the earth around her felt to be breaking in half. Of all the times to get hit with a rock! she thought angrily.
Then, something pushed Misty down onto the ground. Misty heard a screeching sound above the quake and heard a voice hiss "DIE!" Misty fought to open her eyes, wondering what it was, but she then heard a pow and whatever it was, must've gone away.
Misty then blacked out.


"Should I Waterbend something onto her face?"
"No, Rhett! That'd be stupid."
"C'mon Koro, it'd be funny."
Misty's eyes shot open and she found herself in the yard, Rhett and Koro standing over her. Koro had concern on his face, and Rhett had a teasing grin on his - as usual. Misty looked around. "Wh-What happened?"
"After the earthquake, Capture the Prey was called off. I found you knocked out in the middle of two fallen trees," Koro answered. Misty noticed he had a cut on his forehead. "You okay?"
"Uh..." Misty said. "Y-Yeah."
Koro gave a slight smile, and Misty felt a bit nervous. "That's nice. Nightgale and Eclipse helped you. You had a terrible cut bye your eye."
Misty started to get to her paws. "Is everyone else okay?" she asked.
"Um...Well, Tiggerpaka's missing," Koro shrugged.
"But who cares?" laughed Rhett.
Immediately Misty felt a rush of guilt. "Oh no..." she murmured. It was her fault - she's the one who sent Tiggerpaka on the little "mission".
"What?" Rhett asked.
"I...think it's my fault Tiggerpaka's gone," Misty gulped.
"Thank you. You got rid of a very annoying pest," Rhett chuckled.
Koro flashed Rhett a look, then turned to Misty. "I'm sure he's fine. That one's a survivor."
"How?" Rhett demanded.
"If he survived through the Firebender fight, I think he can survive anything," Koro observed.
"You gotta point," Rhett frowned. "It's a miracle he's still alive...but then again, he could be dead right now."
This made Misty feel worse. "Wh-Where's my dad?"
"Ash? He's talking to Raoul, over there," Koro responded, nodding to behind Misty. Misty turned to see, indeed, that her father was talking to his deputy. Misty got up and trotted for her father, hearing their conversation as she got closer to them.
"...Except one, which you know is Tiggerpaka," Raoul was saying. "No one knows where he is."
"Hmm. What do you think we should do?" Ash frowned.
Misty hesitated, listening, not wanting to interrupt.
"Probably leave him," Raoul snorted. "He can be a nuisance."
"Yeah, but really, I don't think we should let him wander. It feels wrong," Ash insisted.
"Ash, I'm sure he's having some made-up adventure he thinks is real--"
"Uh...dad?"
Ash and Raoul looked at Misty. "Oh, hello Misty," Ash approached his daughter. "Feeling better?"
"Yes," Misty replied. "Um...I-I think I may be the cause of Tiggerpaka being lost..."
"What happened?" Ash asked calmly.
"He wanted to help in...Capture the Prey," Misty said, finding it hard to meet her father's eyes. "And I sent him off."
"Misty," Raoul said, "never let Tiggerpaka help you with stuff."
Ash looked at Raoul. "That may be true, but let's just deal with finding him first, instead of giving advice," Ash suggested. He turned to Misty. "You can help us track him, if you want."
"Okay," Misty murmured. She didn't feel like doing a tracking job, but it was her responsibility.
"Benders! Gather!" Ash called.
The animals of The Bending Tower came up to Ash, and Misty joined them, sitting next to Lephos and Sidew.
"As you know," Ash began, "Tiggerpaka is missing."
Some animals laughed with delight, but a look from Ash made them stop.
"So we got to find him," Ash insisted.
"Come on!" moaned Akumu, "we did the same thing for Tiggerkat moons ago!"
"Yeah! And we found her in a hot spring!" roared Rusty furiously.
"Tiggerpaka would most likely be found fighting a bush," Raoul pointed out.
"Can't argue with that," muttered Dust's voice.
"Nonetheless, no matter what he find him doing, we got to find him. If another earthquake starts, Tiggerpaka would probably die," Ash insisted. "We'll have three tracking parties - the first will consist of Crystal, Lephos, Misty, Koro, Campbell and Nzuri. Patrol two will have Rhett, Ekaj, Dell, Mkia and Leafy. Patrol three will have Darner, Firefly, Bracken, Twister and Liberty. Any questions?"
"Ooh!" exclaimed a voice - Misty realized it belonged to Wyki."Can I search too? I'm a great tracker!"
"No Wyki," came Flare's voice. "You're too young."
"Aw! I could really help!" cried Wyki. "Please dad?"
"Dad, don't let him," snorted Sirius. "Wyki will trip over his own paws, over and over."
"Oh, will not!" Wyki insisted.
"Start the search!" Ash said, cutting their conversation off. "Meeting over."

Author's Note:
And the great search for Tiggerpaka begins. ouo