I try to fight the bats, but it's hopeless. And I know it would not be wise to fight them any longer. They could drop me, and I could fall to my death. Besides, it's useless. They are in swarms, so if I can make one bat disperse, ten others seem to take its place. I let them carry me off. I could only hope that Shadow might be following me. But we are so high, that I don't know if she could breathe with her human lungs this high. I feel like I'm breathing through a straw.

The bats chitter, "If we get to the Cave, she may try to attack us."

The rest reply, "Yes, yes."

One bat looks at the other. "Get Clive."

A bat with light brown patches flies over to me. Clive. He squeezes a part of my neck, I'm guessing my pressure point. I try to bat him off (HAHA so funny I know okay I'll stop, I'm sorry) but the other bats restrain my movements. I feel myself go numb as everything goes dark.

~~~~~~

I wake up in a dark surronding. My eyes adjust.

"Boo," a small voice says.

I find myself face to face with a bat. He's hanging upside down. Or am I...?

"Don't worry," he begins, answering my question. "I'm the bat here, so I'm hanging upside down."

"What do you want?" I growl.

He juts his wing up to the sky. There seems to be a small patch of sun creeping through a hole in the cave's walls. I grimace. There's an ugly wound that seems to have been poorly tended to on his wing. Wait a second. He's the bat that I...oh no.

He glares at me. "Thanks to you, I've delayed myself from flying for a while. Oh but wait," he says, extending his talon out. "I haven't introduced myself. I'm Alexander."

"Mina," I reply, turning down the hand shake.

He jerks his hand down. "I know."

I nod.

"So," he says. "You may have been wondering why I brought you here."

"Yes, it's been on my mind a lot. I would like to apologize for hurting your little bat wing," I say sarcastically.

He doesn't look amused. "No, I also want to talk to you about your interest in Catastrophe."

"My interest?" I guffaw. "Yes, because I totally wna to work with the one that killed my family, burned my village, erased my memory, and turned me into a mutant."

He looks like he's going to blow a gasket.

"I NEVER ASKED YOU TO BE SO SARCASTIC!" he roars.

"I never asked you to give me permission," I respond cooly. 

"You know what, I'm done, I can't do this, I've lost my patience, I...." he continues, talking and chirping to all of the other bats.

He turns around sharply and looks at me. I stare back. If this is a staring competition, then I'll win. I'm a cat! My eyes can glaze over because of my "extra eye lids" that really keep my eyes moisturized.

"Look," he begins slowly. "Just explain to me about you and Catastrophe. Why did he make you a mutant?"

"I. Don't. Have. To. Tell. You. Anything," I spit.

He starts bickering with the bats again. But suddenley, a loud explosion fills the cave. I look behind him. Standing at the entrance of the cave is Catastrophe. And he's brought friends. 

I try to slide out of the cave, but a boy older than Shadow grabs the scruff of my neck. I automatically go limp.

"Not so fast, kitty."

I struggle to get free, but I can't. I watch all of the fighting going on around me. Catastrophe's mini army are shooting at the bats while the bats swarm around them, attacking. The boy holding me gets distracted, so I wiggle loose.

"Wait, stop!" he yells.

I laugh and run back inside the cave. There is a girl pinning down Alexander. He's scratching at her, and she's bleeding a little bit, but she's trying to tie him up. I leap onto her and bite. I sratch at her, and she waves her arms around wildly. She tries shooting her weapon, but she can't see, so her shooting is everywhere. Clive finally rushes up to me and pushes her pressure point. I memorize where he did, so I can do it too. She drops to the floor, her gun skidding to a stop against some rocks. I grab it.

"What does this thing do...?" I mutter, trying to figure it out. 

I pull the trigger, and the cave wall blows up a bit.

I chortle. "Cool!"

I run off to join Alexander, and I fight off some more of Catastrophe's comrades while the rest of the bats fly all around the cave.

There's another blast through the wall, and more of what seems to be Catastrophe's army streams in.

He's called for reinforcements. 

More of Alexander's help is coming in. But I'm not feeling good. I'm starting to get dizzy. Oh no. It's happening again. 

I leap at some more of Catastrophe's officials, tearing them up. They try to run from me, but I prusue them. I even pursue them out of the cave. I finally head up towards Catastrophe. He stays completley still. I charge at him, my rage blinding me. He swipes his arm up, and suddenley everything is still. I can't move. I glare at him, but he laughs. Then he swipes his arm to the left, and I can feel myself no longer. 

~Eli

Everything starts to take a turn for the better--and nobody notices that I'm gone, slipping amongst Catastrophe's ranks and attacking. And then--it gets worse. People are fighting everywhere. I'm a little terrified. Danger flies through the air.  Aether fire sprays everywhere, and I gasp in pain.

My body burns as Aether seems to splash all around the place. But I can't do anything about it. Catastrophe still has me floating, suspended in the air. Shadow fights to get me, but there seems to be a force field around me. I feel my mutant mode turning on, but even with my strength in my different self, I can't do a thing. I float, Shadow fighting as hard as she can. She flies into the air when an arrow shoots her in the leg. I try to scream her name, but the sound chokes in my throat. She drifts for a second before pulling it out. She yelps slightly, but regains herself. She's still wobbling in the air. I hear a scream from beind me. I can't turn my head. Shadow runs to the one who screamed. She then shifts into my range of vision again, and she's carrying Jake on her shoulders. 

"Wait, Icy!" I hear him groan.

"I'll go to her, don't worry!" Shadow hisses, obviously struggling a little bit because of his weight on her injury. "Right now, we need to get you somewhere safe."

Jake nods weakly.

There seems to be even MORE bats flying to Alexander's side, and more of what seems to be the good guys flowing in. Catastrophe's not going to win this fight. Many of his army falls behind, but they all seem to be running behind the cave.  

"Retreat!" I hear one of what look like Catastrophe's captains call.

Catastrophe runs to a ship behind the cave that I had not seen before. I float along. We enter the ship with th rest of the army as the door jolts down and the engines start up. We jerk up and zoom off.

Catastophe looks at me. He then makes a motion with his hands that looks like he sprayed water on someone. He does it twice in front of my face. I feel drowsy. Then he swipes to the left and the world shuts down on me.

I groan as I wake up. I was sleeping well for the first time in a while. I sit up and look around me. I'm in a white room with walls so shiny I can see my reflection. I then realize I'm not bound by anything. I get up and start walking around. I find the door and run to it. I twist at the knob, but it's locked. 

I bang it and shout, "Open up!"

But it's no use. It won't budge.

An hour later, after body slamming the door many times, I finally break down sobbing. I was never meant to be here. I was supposed to be carrying out kill orders. I should have never got myself into this mess. I should have never met Shadow, or Eli, or Jake, or Icy. I'll never get out of this now. But I guess I could never help it. It was meant to be me from the start. The village. This journey. It was all planned. And there was nothing I could do about it.

I raise my head up to the door again. I'm across the room, sitting on the floor. I almost glare at the door. I feel a rush down my spine. Something is coursing through me. The serum? I look up again. I notice a glint off of the walls and door. Wait a second.... The doors and walls are holograms! If I bang on it, it won't budge. But maybe if I put my hand slowly through it...?

I walk up to the door and push my hand slowly through it. It goes right inside. I then walk through it slowly, feeling like I'm walking through a cloud. I find myself in another room. I put my hand through where I came from, but it's a solid wall.

The room I'm in now is made of mirrors. But it's not too confusing. There are six mirrors in place of each of the walls. But there are no doors. I look to the sides of me, and down. There seems to b nothing there. I then loom up, finding myself looking at myself. But the reflection shows me standing on what seems to be a black hole, not a mirror. I look at the floor's mirror, but it shows no sign of the ceiling's mirror reflecting that. I take a guess and jump, finding myself plunging down into another room. I land on a soft pillow that seemed to be waiting for me. In this room, there is a table with two chairs. In one chair, there sits a boy, about Jake's age.

"Congratulations," he says. "You have passed your first test." 

The boy gestures at one of the seats. I sit down. 

"Your brain waves are-" but something interupts him. It seems to be some kind of phone/radio.

"Hello?" he says to it.

"We've spotted a girl with wings following us," a gruff voice says.

I gasp. Shadow.

"Is she needed for tests?" the boy asks.

"No, but Catastrophe says that her wings would be a lovely relic for the museum." the voice replied.

I grimace.

The boy looks up at me.

"Well, I'm busy at the moment," he says. "But I'll get back to you on that. For now, put her in the dungeon witht he rest of them."

"Yes, sir," the voice replies.

The boy siwtches the device off.

"Where was I?" he asks. "Ah, yes. Brain waves. ANyway, the serum that made you a mutant also made your brain waves and thoguhts react faster, making you smarter. The brain reacts to the serum, because the...."

He coninues, but I don't listen. What are they going to do to Shadow? 

The boy leads me down a hallway, as white as the first room I was in. Two guards accompany us, behind me. I try to get out of my handcuffs. But they're made out of metal. I listen to the way that the guards walk. One is nervous, his steps uneven. Another has heavy, plodding steps, showing over-confidence. The boy's pace rushes and then slows down. Now's my chance. I leap back and bite the first guards arm, then using my back claws to lash the other guard. I charge at the boy, head butting him into the wall and biting his arm. I can hear the other guards yelling for cakup on their radio. I bite at one uard's neck when more gurads stream down the hallway. The surrond me. I lash and attack at them, but they corner me. A girl guard holds me down as she tightens my bonds. Another guard comes over, and the make me stand up, then pushing down my shoulders to restrain my movement. We then coninue to pass down the hallway. I try to get loose, but they make sure that I can't attack them at all. We pass by a few guards standing like a rock in front of other doors. They are still, but I can feel their eyes tracing me. Am I really that much of a spectacle? We walked into a room made out of glass, where there seemed to be men and women that looked like scientists. They all straightended up when I entered the room. 

"What, am I a distinguished guest, or something?" I joke at a guard.

She looks at me and then looks ahead. She looks guilty.

"Come," a girl scientist says, walking up to me.

I can tell she's new. She has a name tag that says Maverly.

She takes me to a seat, and tells me to sit down. I try to run, but the guard is ready. She grabs me, and puts me in the seat. As soon as I stand, a cage uproots from the ground that surronds me. The guard jumps out just in time.

I lash rom the chair and attack the cage, biting it and sticking my claws through the cage. I end up scratching Maverly.

"Ow!" she shouts.

She looks at another scientist and nods. The scientist takes a needle and walks up to me.

"Oh, not again you won't!" I hiss.

One guard holds me through the cage. I can't get free. The scientist sticks the needle into my fur. The guard lets me go and I collapse onto the floor. The world fades away.

And that seemed to have been the last time I was truly Mina. 

~~~~~~~~~~~ 

I wake up in a small, square room. A man walks into the room.

"Hello," he says. "I am Catastrophe."

I nod.

He hands me a picture, of a winged girl.

"Who is this?" I ask. 

"She goes by Shadow. Your job is to kill her and her friends. Do you understand?" he asks.

"Yes," I reply.

"You have even better claws and fangs than normal. But you will still be equipped with a weapon."

I nod again.

"Follow me," he said.

I stood up and followed him out of the hallway.

"You," he says, walking down the hallway. "Are now known as Ravage. Do you understand?" 

"Yes," I reply.

"Good," Catastrophe replies. "Your first task is now in session." 

~Icicle 'Icy' Soul

"Shadow!?" I call, sliding off of my Pegasus. I suddenly stare at the sight in front of me.

A valley, spread with colorful tents. A patchwork of colors. I hear yelling, the clang of metal on metal, shouts, and the smell of...meat? And I feel something, too. Like a shiver deep inside of me. This must be Catastrophe's army's encampment. 

I pull my blonde hair into a braid, tying it with a special type of grass called "Reselintine" and put a Pegasus feather in my hair. A huge part of being prepared is to FEEL prepared.

But never mind that. I'd better find Shadow soon. And with that thought, I walk towards the Valley, knowing that my plan sucks. 

~~~

I weave my way around the tents, hiding in the shadow, behind barrels, and anywhere I can get. There's usually barrels between tents, and it's shaded there. The grass is dewy and wet, and I pause to rub my fingers on it, daydreaming....in Catastrophe's camp!?

Suddenly, I hear voices from the nearby tent. "The Assasins are after the girl." Catastrophe! "The blondie 9 year old or the older, teenage looking one?" I make a faint growling sound in my throat. I'm NOT nine! I'm 11! Just because I'm short for my age--wow, this Catastrophe guy is really evil. 

"The older one. She's...part power. You know my mission." Catastrophe starts toremind me of my father--a man who turns to evil (or in my father's case, B.I.G) because of the loss of someone loved. But Catastrophe has never been good, or has loved anyone, right?

"And what of the younger one?" The other voice asks. "PowerFriend." Catastrophe muses. "Are you thinking of Celesti--" The other voice asks. Celesti. Celesti. Why is that name so familiar? It's almost as if someone whispered it over my cradle. FOCUS, ICICLE. 

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT THAT NAME!?" Catastrophe yells. "I-I it was an accident sir" The other one stammers. "GUARDS!!" He yells. "Get some rope, a post, and a whip." He commands. I turn away, not wanting to hear the rest, when I see a boy--a half breed Fox human--staring at me with a cruel smile. And he's got Shadow.