Chapter 27: The Chase

As soon as Liberty realized what her opposite was doing, she bolted after her.
Unfortunately, they both went at about the same speed, and Fake-Liberty had a head start. Liberty gritted her teeth and ran as fast as she possibly could, but it wasn't enough to catch the opposite.
Liberty was extra careful not to trip over any stray tree roots or sticks or rocks, jumping and ducking under any obstacles that'd slow her down. Fake-Liberty ran with easy, cocky almost, seeming familiar with the territory. Exactly how long has she been here? Liberty asked herself with a slight growl as she pushed away the urge to stop running and rest.
Fake-Liberty looked over her shoulder at Liberty and smirked before suddenly swerving and running to the right. Liberty tried to follow but tripped as she tried to turn, stumbling. With a fierce growl she collected herself and started up running again, but it became increasingly more difficult as pain shot in Liberty's sides, wheezing with effort.
She found herself now trotting towards the place where she had left Lucky, but then she heard voices.
"What are you doing?"
Dread filled Liberty as she realized it was Lucky, who then let out a shriek of pain.
Then came Liberty's own voice: "You're a disgrace!" she snarled. "WEAK!"
"Stop hurting me!" Lucky cried.
Anger surged through Liberty and she bolted towards the sounds. She could see Fake-Liberty ahead and didn't care that she'd get injured; she tackled Fake-Liberty, and Liberty found herself also screeching in pain as she felt claws dig into her shoulders as she did the same to her opposite, and something hitting her back at the same time she pinned Fake-Liberty down.
Lucky jumped back. "What's going on?!"
"Lucky, run!" Liberty yelled, struggling to keep Fake-Liberty down.
The black kitten didn't hesitate to take off.


Lucky ran back to The Bending Tower, through the yard and into the Tower, and back to the young den, where Airia and the others were. Alista and Cloudie were in conversation, giggling about something, whereas Rhonda and Okerro were talking in the corner, but not acting as giggly as the girls.
Airia looked up as Lucky came in. "There are two Libertys!" he yelped as he ran in and up to the winged wolf. "There are two Libertys!"
Airia studied him, looking rather exhausted, before sighing. "Yes, Lucky," she said. "Some animals can change and act differently."
"But there are two Libertys!" Lucky protested.
Airia nodded. "Most animals can act a certain way one day and another way the next."
"But there are two of her!" Lucky shouted.
"Two of what?" asked Alista.
"Liberty!" Lucky exclaimed, turning to face the orange pup.
"Ooh! Ooh!" Alista said, turning to Alista. "Let's play fight! I'll be two of Raoul!"
"I'll be two of Ash!" Cloudie added.
"I wanna play!" Rhonda exclaimed, bounding over as Okerro followed. "I'm two of Airia!"
"There were two Libertys!" Lucky shouted desperately.
"You wanna be Liberty?" Alista frowned, wrinkling her nose. "But she's a girl!"
Lucky didn't know how to respond, so he didn't, as Okerro started saying who he wanted to be. No one believes me! he thought.
"Are you gonna play with us, Lucky?" Cloudie asked.
"Yeah," Lucky said. "I'm...two..." he frowned.
"You can be two of Streak! He's a cat too!" Alista nodded.
"Okay!" Lucky said, and the group began to play.


Liberty struggled to hold her opposite down, both of them growling at each other. She knew she couldn't fight Fake-Liberty; it could result in her own injury. On the bright side, however, this assured that Fake-Liberty wouldn't try to fight her either.
"Get off of me!" Fake-Liberty shrieked, struggling under Liberty's grasp. Her opposite clearly wasn't a good fighter; then again, Liberty was, so it'd make sense that her opposite wouldn't be.
"I will if you promise not to go to The Bending Tower," Liberty growled. It was not likely the opposite would do so, but Liberty was prepared to keep her opposite there all night if it meant she wouldn't go to her home.
"I can't make that promise," Fake-Liberty hissed. "I can't disobey orders."
"Well you will this time," Liberty retorted coldly.
Fake-Liberty narrowed her eyes at her before growling. "Fine."
Liberty then released her opposite, who took off in the other direction.


She made her way back to The Bending Tower uneventfully, and as she came into the yard she realized the whole of the Tower was out there. What just happened? she asked.
"Liberty!" exclaimed a voice. She turned to see Tiggerkat bouncing over happily. "Hi!"
"Uh...hi," Liberty replied cautiously.
"You just missed it!" Tiggerkat said, her voice cheerful as usual. "Ekaj, Sparky, Ryker, Audrey, Malroy and Spot became full Benders."
Liberty nodded. "Sounds nice."
"Yeah! It was great! I'm so proud of them. They worked hard," Tiggerkat said, talking in a fast and eager voice. "They should include reese cup lessons. I'd teach that. I'd be a great teacher. I'd make sure no one would fail. And I'd give out free reese cups. It'd be so fun! You should--"
"Aren't you like, scared of me?" Liberty blurted out. Tiggerkat blinked as she continued. "Everyone hates me, because--"
Tiggerkat suddenly grew wide-eyed, staring at her intently. "Did you take my reese cups?" she asked slowly.
Liberty frowned. "No, but--"
Tiggerkat then grinned and wrapped her arms around Liberty's neck in some kind of embrace. "Well just ask next time," she said, pulling away. "You can have my reese cups as long as you ask."
Confusion filled Liberty, and she then sighed. "Nevermind. You don't understand what with all these opposites..." She didn't mind if Tiggerkat heard the word; she was quite forgetful, and it wasn't likely she'd be repeating it to anyone, and even if she did no one would believe her.
She looked at Tiggerkat to see her face had lit up. "I know, right? Opposites are so confusing. I mean, one is Yin and one is Yang, one is dark and one is bright, one is on and one is off, one's left and one's right, one's up and the other is down..."
Tiggerkat walked off, naming more opposites to herself, and Liberty could hear it all the way until she was out of earshot.
But Liberty was even more confused than before. Wait, she said to herself. Tiggerkat just mentioned Yin and Yang...

Author's Note:
Dun dun dun...
(also yeah school got in the way again so i couldn't update sooner)