Chapter 18: The Ambush

Misty awoke the next day, feeling quite rested after all that she had been through the other day. She scanned the camp; Tiggerpaka was leaned against a log, sleeping, with his stick laid across his chest. Lilypaka was curled up on the ground nearby, also asleep. Sidew and Lephos were resting side-by-side, eyes closed and their sides heaving with each breath - the only time they weren't exchanging stupid jokes. Bracken was curled up, a few feet away from Koro, who wasn't too far from Campbell. Next to Misty, she saw Adele was awake with her muzzle rested on her paws.
Ophir was sleeping by himself by some bushes, and Rhett was awake, standing guard over him, looking lost in thought. Is Ophir still even considered a prisoner? Misty wondered. It felt like a lifetime ago since Ophir had joined them. She remembered Campbell's suspicions about him. But what is he still here for? she asked herself. Was he not brave enough to try and escape? Or did he have purpose here? Misty pushed the thought away. Of course not. He barely knows us. Misty made herself a mental note to find more about Ophir later. Now that she gave it more thought, the gray wolf made her curious.
Nearby the loner Moonshadow was sitting up, scanning the area. He glanced at Misty as he saw her looking at him. "Oh. Hi," he said in a shy tone. "Who're you?"
"Misty," she responded.
"Nice. I'm Moonshadow. But, uh...you probably already know my name," he admitted.
"Where're you from?" Misty asked.
"Oh...nowhere in particular," said Moonshadow. "I just lived with my parents. We set up a home in the forest, far from here."
"Why aren't you with them anymore?"
Moonshadow tensed up, as if it were a touchy subject. "...I don't like to talk about it."
Curiosity filled Misty and she was tempted to press, but decided not to; she didn't like talking about her home much either, it made her homesick. "Oh. Okay. I respect that."
There was an awkward silence for quite a while in which Misty attempted to fill by pretending to be really interested in a bug crawling along the grass.
A while later the bug was suddenly snatched up and Misty looked to see Tiggerpaka had eaten it. "Morning, Mistake!" he greeted her as he chewed the bug. Misty fully sat up as the meerkat continued. "Another day to kick some tail, eh? Who're we going to fight today?"
"No one, hopefully," Misty said.
"'Hopefully'?" Tiggerpaka echoed. "Mistake, we must go forth and conquer! We cannot just sit here!"
"I think we might be," Misty nodded. "We need to rest."
"Bah! Morons, the lot of you," said Tiggerpaka, rolling his eyes. "I am the true warrior here."
"You're small though," frowned Moonshadow.
"Size does not matter, it's the heart that counts," sniffed Tiggerpaka. "And identify yourself, minion!"
"I'm, uh, not a minion," Moonshadow insisted.
"Well you are now! You shall be my grub-retriever. Now go find me some!" Tiggerpaka ordered.
Moonshadow shuffled his paws nervously. "I, uh..."
"Now means now, minion! Go!" Tiggerpaka exclaimed.
"Be quiet," said Lilypaka, coming over to her brother. "Moonshadow's just got here and you're pushing him around. You don't even know him."
"I know everyone! So of course I knew Mooch-oh over here," Tiggerpaka snorted.
"It's Moonshadow," Moonshadow said, giving the meerkat a look.
"That's what I said, Mooch-oh!"
"Uh, no, you didn't."
"Are you deaf, minion! No wonder you're a mere grub-retriever. You'd be horrible in the front--"
"Tiggerpaka," Lilypaka scolded. "Stop."
"Sheesh, you're starting to sound like our mother," Tiggerpaka muttered.
Moonshadow looked at Misty. "Is he always like that?"
"Yep," Misty said.
"So is he like...your leader?"
"Heck no," spoke up Sidew, who was just now sitting up next to Lephos, who was also awake. "If he was we'd be dead by now."
"Shut up, Sidew the Wimp! I'm the whole reason this journey of ours started!" Tiggerpaka exclaimed.
"Yeah, and we never wanted it to," glared Lephos.
Not long later - after a lot of conversation and a few arguments breaking out - everyone was awake and eventually were having breakfast together after Koro had sent Campbell, Rhett and Lephos hunting, who had come back with a good amount of game. Misty was eating a rabbit, sitting with Adele and Bracken.
"I wonder what we're doing today," ventured Bracken as he took a bite of the mole he was eating.
"Hopefully resting here," insisted Misty, looking up at the cloud-covered sky. It looked like it might rain soon; but it was awfully cold, so perhaps it'd be snow instead. "I think we all need it."
"But that'd be kinda boring. And besides, we need to get to Yin and Yang. Who knows how much longer we got," Bracken said.
"Speaking of which, we haven't had an earthquake in a while," Misty noted. "Does that mean their fight is stopping?"
"I doubt it. If it was stopping, the Peacebenders would probably tell us," Bracken nodded. "Maybe the earthquakes only happen in specific areas."
"Maybe," echoed Misty in agreement.
That was when Koro spoke up. "We need to get moving soon," he remarked.
Various groans rose from the group.
"Why?" Rhett asked. "I mean c'mon, we need some rest."
"The sooner we get moving, the better," Koro said. "Who knows if the Amorache Tribe is looking for us?"
"The what?" Moonshadow said.
"It's nothing," insisted Lephos.
"Also, the place we're looking for," Koro added with a wary glance at Moonshadow, "may still be very far away."
"It is," said Ophir. "Still quite a while of walking."
"What if you're still taking us the wrong way?" Campbell demanded.
"I'm all you got," Ophir smirked. "I'm the only one in this group who's been there before, aren't I? Plus, I'm not stupid enough to try and betray your trust. You guys all outnumber me."
"I'm confused," Moonshadow announced.
"Again, it's nothing," Lephos said.
"I hope you're not," Koro said to Ophir. "But let's get moving."
"Yes," Tiggerpaka said. "And I say we go this way." He pointed in a direction.
"Tiggerpaka, that's the way back to the Amorache Tribe," Sidew said.
"Duh! That's why I pointed this way!" Tiggerpaka snorted, pointing the opposite way.
They all got up - leaving any uneaten prey behind - and began walking again, heading where Ophir lead them towards, Misty walking by Adele and Bracken/
"I still don't trust him," commented Campbell from next to Misty, eyeing Ophir.
"Why not?" Misty asked.
"Well duh, he just showed up. Plus, why is he sticking around? He seems like the type who wouldn't help out unless it was to his advantage," Campbell muttered.
"Maybe he's just being nice," offered Bracken.
"Ha!" laughed Campbell. "Right. And I suppose Misty's gonna grow two heads."
"So Ophir was born in Yin and Yang," Misty commented. "Why is he here now I wonder...?"
"Exactly," Campbell nodded.
For once, Misty thought Campbell might be onto something.
"And while we're on the topic of odd things, what's this whole 'seek safety' thing?" Campbell wondered.
Misty tried not to stiffen at the thought. "Seek safety". She knew she'd think of Tsovo every time she heard the words, which wasn't something she was looking forward to. Misty had decided not to share with the group that Tsovo knew about that. "I don't know," Misty said, looking at Campbell.
"If we're supposed to stop Yin and Yang or something, why does it sound like that old tortoise was asking us to hide from them?" Campbell wondered.
"You think that's what it means?" Misty said.
"What else? If you 'seek safety', you're looking for a place to be safe. He must mean we're supposed to be safe from Yin and Yang, but we're going towards them to stop them," Campbell pointed out.
"This is messing up my head," Bracken blurted out. "Everything's so confusing."
"We'll figure it out," Misty insisted. "Besides, we've got Lilypaka. If anyone in this group will figure this all out eventually, it's her."
"Hopefully," added Campbell. "All of this is just a big mess..."
Misty sighed, silently agreeing with Campbell's words. She kept walking along but suddenly, she felt her right paw step on something and then a net was engulfed around her and she - along with Campbell, Bracken, Adele, Lephos and Lilypaka - who were both unfortunate enough to be standing nearby - were yanked into the air, all of them yelling in alarm as they were pulled.
"What the--?!" yelped Lephos.
"LEPH!" Sidew yelled.
"Who set this?!" Campbell demanded with a growl.
"What's going on?" Lilypaka wondered aloud.
Annoyance pricked at Misty. Obviously they must've been in someone's territory. Great, she thought bitterly. We can't even go a full day without wandering into trouble!
"What happened?" asked Koro.
"How are we supposed to know? We didn't set this!" Campbell snarled at him.
Ophir chuckled. "Someone's in a bad mood."
"You'd be too if you were--"
"Never fear!" Tiggerpaka declared, running forward with a new stick. "I shall--"
Tiggerpaka then stepped on a smooth rock and then he, Ophir, Koro, Rhett, Moonshadow and Sidew were all caught in another net and were yanked into the air next to Misty, Campbell, Bracken and Lilypaka.
"Way to go, Tiggerpaka!" Sidew growled.
Tiggerpaka snorted. "This is obviously a part of my plan, Wimp! I shall get us free."
That was when there were victorious yells and laughs, and then a bunch of boy wolves - all of which obviously weren't full-grown yet - ran into the clearing, revealing to be the ones who were hollering.
"We got 'em!" laughed one who looked to be around Misty's age, who had a dusty brown pelt. "We got 'em!"
"Ha!" sneered a light brown boy from nearby the dusty one. "You guys had that one coming!"
"It worked!" exclaimed a gray wolf. "It worked!"
"What's going on?" growled Sidew.
"Yeah? Who are you guys?" Lephos demanded.
"The prisoners are trying to order us around!" snickered a smaller black wolf, and the boys burst into laughter as if it was the funniest thing they'd heard all day.
"I'm asking politely," Misty spoke up. "Who are you guys?"
"It's a girl!" shouted the dusty brown wolf, and all the others gasped.
"Ew! Girls!" yelped the light brown.
"We don't talk to girls!" added the gray wolf.
"Oh, you're so above another gender, huh?" growled Campbell. "You guys are all very mature."
"Who are you guys, though?" Bracken asked.
"We," said the dusty wolf, "are the Tribe of Awesomeness!"
"The Tribe of Awesomeness?" said Campbell, nose wrinkled in disgust.
"Yep! We're really awesome!" grinned the light brown.
"We need to take them to Ricochet!" exclaimed the smaller wolf.
All the others began murmuring to each other in agreement.
"Wait," Koro said. "Who's Ricochet?"
"Our leader!" said the white wolf. "He'd be happy to know we got some prisoners!"

Author's Note:
I've been wanting to write about these guys for a while now actually. OuO