(Whoops, I had written that comment an hour ago and posted it before I saw Sybill did. My bad.)

Aboard the Thunderbird:

Night has fallen. Crickets chirp serenely in the brush that chokes the shore, still audible over the soft creaking of the Thunderbird. Up ahead is a sorry excuse for a port whose docks shudder every time one of our waves smack their posts. Nevaru. Three blue lanterns hang from a hook, letting me know that this is my destination.

"Well, isn't this a swanky part of town," I remark a little too loudly.

"Shh," Darya scolds.

We are at the prow, surveying the dock for signs of life.

"There," she points.

The lanterns are hanging over a docking cabin. A candle burns inside, illuminating two forms.

"Beautiful! Wonderful. Alright. Let's get the goods unloaded."

"Don't get too excited," Darya warns, turning away. She signals for the crew to steer us over to the dock as silently as possible. I watch the figures inside the cabin with a scrutinizing gaze, waiting for them to emerge.

Dar'sava~~

Kirah looks at me and I shrug. Our only choice is to follow this mysterious, orange-eyed woman, who may or may not actually be our Mongoose. It's possible it's a trap, or its just some crazy person who happened to respond to Mongoose. 

I check my pocket to make sure the ETL is still there, then follow the woman through the tiny window. I wince as I cut my shoulder on something--I think it was a wooden splinter from one of the torn-off boards. Kirah follows, somehow managing to not hurt herself.

The woman flicks on a light, letting me finally see her clearly. I now realize why she goes by Mongoose--its because she's clearly part mongoose. She's short, with slightly wrinkled skin and brown hair thats starting to grey. Her ears are furry and brown and curved. She's slender, and there's faint dark markings on skin, like barring. Her teeth are slightly pointed and she has small, flexible hands. She even has a small brown tail.

"Who are you?" She says, in a rough, croak-like voice. "Resistance told me you were coming. Said you would give fake names."

"If you want our fake names, then I'm Pitalesharo," I say.

"Ferox," Kirah says.

"Good. You are who they said would come. Now. Where is your ETL?" She reaches out her hand.

I pause for a moment, then sigh and hand it to her. Hopefully it's not a trap.

Mongoose looks it over. Her eyes narrow, and she frowns. "Who gave you this?"

"Captain R'oko did," Kirah replies.

"This ETL is rigged to explode as soon as I put it in a reciever," She says. "Has R'oko done anything suspicious lately? This looks like an assasination attempt, and I think he was the one who did it. There's a coyote fur stuck between some of the explosive components."

A realization strikes me. "That's how Catastrophe found us, at his safehouse, and how they knew we'd been at the tavern! It wasn't because they used Eniyan's tracker, because that should have been disabled by the magical reinforcements around the safehouse. It was because R'oko told them where we were!"

"And so that's why he had to run off and 'talk to the others' at the base--because he was creating the explosive," Kirah adds.

"If that's the case, then Jasper and Smoke are in danger. They went with him to deliver a decoy ETL--but he might be trying to murder them instead," I say.

Mongoose seems to think for a moment. "They were heading to Fairmeadow, correct?"

"Correct."

"There's a Catastrophe base there. He might not be bringing them there to kill them--but rather turn them in to Catastrophe. There may still be time for you to save them," Mongoose says.

~~~ 

Plot-twists are fun. And anyways, it would be weird for R'oko to have to ask higher-ups for permission to create an alliance with the Sanukans, seeing as it was the Resistance who originally wanted to form the alliance. 

This post also takes place before the scene bewteen Adrion and Selena.

Davina~~

The lodge looks out of place amongst the white flowers and tall grasses of the endless fields. The city we just passed through looked more natural, with its grey and off-white stone buildings and weeds growing between every crack in the pavement. A few Sanukans are outside in the late afternoon, though there is not a single Nanulian. Their kind wouldn't be able to handle the high temperatures of the Grasplands, what with their extremely thick fur and skin designed for cold temperatures. I'm surprised even Kimi is able to cope with the heat, though raccoon's fur isn't anywhere as thick as Nanulian fur.

I park the ATV a few feet away from the base of the steps leading up to the Sanukan HQ. Hviti is waiting for us at the top. His usually friendly expression has been replaced with one of sleep deprivation and worry. I begin to doubt that whatever he has to tell us is good news.

"Davina, Kimi," He greets us, putting on a warm smile despite his tired eyes. "You two came awfully quickly. Did everything go alright with the Resistance?"

"Yeah, it went fine," I reply. "Now we've just go to wait and see if their higher-ups will ever respond."

"They seemed awfully disorganized," Kimi adds. "Made me wonder if they were actually capable of taking down the Black Skull."

"Well, luckily for them, they'll have a team of well-trained, experienced Sanukan soldiers, the daughter of Victor Starr himself, and a cunning raccoon anthro to help them," Hviti said. For a moment, his smile seemed genuine. "Now come inside. We have things to discuss."

--

We sat around a wooden table, made from pine exported directly from Sanukaville, in one of the conference rooms. The room seemed to be almost painfully quiet.

"The Black Skull's activity has increased in the past few days," Hviti began. "They've become less secretive and discreet, and have begun to attack entire Sanukan-controlled ports. Typically, they've been blaming the Resistance or illegal Brazen Goo smuggling groups, and the people of the Grasplands seem to actually believe them."

"How many ports have they attacked?" Kimi asked.

"Three, all of which they succeeded in destroying any Sanukan posts or facilities. We have reason to believe they're plotting the destruction of more as we speak," Hviti replied.

"Do we know where they're going to strike next?" I asked.

"Yes," Hviti said, "Which is why I requested your presence."

Hviti pulled out a map of the Grasplands, and pointed at a small marking on the edge of the Barrier River. "The town of Spiaggia. It's ten minutes away from Nevaru, a port where some Resistance soldiers are hiding and where two suspected Black Skull members have been staying for the past week. An anonymous source informed us that the Black Skull planned to use a pirate ship filled with explosives to attack the Sanukan trading post in Spiaggia. They also said the Skull planned to detonate several bombs near the believed safehouse in Nevaru."

"An anonymous source? How did they even know all of this?" I asked.

"They claimed to be working for the Black Skull. We're unsure if we can trust them...but we also don't have many options," Hviti explained. "I need you two to find this ship, called the Thunderbird, and make sure it never makes it to Spiaggia."

~~~ 

Of course you can join! The best way to figure out what's going on would probably be to read through the thread several times, but I'll make a really quick summary to help.

Basically, we start with Ember Soleil, a Resistance member who's hiding in the Grasplands. A Homo Tenebris (type of SOCS experiment) named Eniyan is ordered by members of Catastrophe's army to take her captive. Ember goes to a local tavern, where someone named Jasper helps hide her in the basement. Eniyan goes inside. Two Resistance members, Kirah and Dar'sava, help knock Eniyan unconscious. Kirah had been posing as a member of Catastrophe's army. 

With help from Jasper, they bind Eniyan's hands and head to a Resistance safehouse, run by R'oko, a coyote anthro. There, the group meets Jira, an elf and theif. They have to keep their true identities secret, as well as Eniyan, who is their prisoner. The group recieves word that the tavern Ember was hiding in got burnt to the ground.

Catastrophe's soldiers show up. They bring a hostage, a young Dolor Felis(might be a Homo Felis, can't remember) named Cadao. Dar'sava, Jasper, and R'oko are taken captive. Kirah and Ember manage to sneak away. Eniyan, who has been growing more and more disloyal, is given a task by the soldiers--to defeat Cadao. Jira goes with the soldiers as well, but she's not a prisoner since she isn't part of the Resistance, nor did she help them.

The soldiers leave. Eniyan does not hurt Cadao and instead frees him. Kirah and Ember go after the soldiers. Eniyan and Cadao show up and help them free Dar'sava, Jasper, and R'oko. Jira is angry at Kirah and the others because she thinks Catastrophe is good. She takes some of the unconscious soldiers with her and flees.

Smoke, a cat and member of the Resistance, shows up to help. A cat mutant named Griffe shows up as well, offering to help hide the Resistance members from Catastrophe. Eniyan, Cadao, and Ember decide to go with Griffe, since they are in the most danger.

Kirah, Smoke, Dar'sava, R'oko, and Jasper head to a secret Resistance base. Kimi and Davina, who are working for the Sanukan Army, show up. They explain that Sanukans in the Grasplands have been being attacked by the Black Skull. The Black Skull had fled to the Grasplands after they were mostly defeated, where they recruited new members and began to rebuild.

Kimi and Davina say that Sanukaville has agreed to an alliance with the Resistance. R'oko says they will relay the message to higher-ups. Kimi and Davina leave, heading back to the Grasplands Sanukan HQ.

R'oko says they need to use ETLs (electronically transmitted letters) to contact the Resistance higher-ups. He makes two--one is a decoy, and the other is real. Dar'sava and Kirah take the real one, while R'oko, Smoke, and Jasper take the fake one.

Dar'sava and Kirah present the ETL to Mongoose, a fellow Resistance member who has the machines required to send an ETL. Mongoose informs them that the ETL is actually rigged to explode, and that R'oko must have been working for Catastrophe. Dar'sava and Kirah set out to confront R'oko.

Kimi and Davina arrive back at the Sanukan base, where General Hviti tells them that Black Skull members have been destroying Sanukan ports. He says that they've received an anonymous tip saying the Black Skull planned to attack the town of Spiaggia next.

Adrion K'rosi, a Black Skull member, meets with Selena Evadere, a pirate who has been transporting goods for the Black Skull. He hides bombs in her money. Selena had been planning to stop at Spiaggia--the place the Black Skull wanted to destroy. But before Selena can get there, Kimi and Davina attack her ship.

That was probably confusing and long, but that's the general idea of what's been going on. I probably missed a few things, but oh well. 

Kimi~

Ten minutes until the explosion. We've got to keep the pirates here for ten minutes, and then we can get out.

Easier said than done. Seems like the pirates are happy to let us stay for as long as we like. Ten minutes are over in a flash--literally.

The boat explodes.

Davina and I are separated the moment the bombs go off. We dive in the safest possible direction, but nowhere is safe--the deck explodes, hurling debris into my skin and throwing me into the air as though I weigh nothing--but I feel like I weigh five tons from the pressure of the concussion squeezing my chest.

My breath is knocked out as I slam into a shredded sail and tumble a few feet. I sink my claws into the cloth and dangle there, panicking for breath. Fire bursts up through the hole below, spreading quickly. I can barely hear anything--it's as though the explosion is still happening, roaring in my ears, deafening the night.

I gasp as air finally enters my lungs again. I'm dizzy now. Just breathe. "Davina?!" I call, but I can't even see her. I can't really see anything; there's too much smoke.

I think the water is to my left--that's where it was before the bomb went off. There's no way to tell until I jump--and I have to jump before the fires reach me.

I slide down a strip of sail and use it as a rope. I swing back and forth, gaining momentum, and launch myself into the air just as the boat gives a heave in its own self-made waves. I'm flung off in a random direction.

Ah. A slight miscalculation. I see, as I sail through the air, the wood of the dock rushing to meet me.

BANG. The dock shudders as I splat onto its surface, first with my right foot, then my knee, and then with my upper body as I skid about five feet to a hard stop against the wall of the dock shed. Blood rushes to my head and I teeter on the edge of passing out. My ankle is throbbing, my nose is bleeding, and loose nail-heads have done more damage than a sword could.

Wolves howl in the distance. Over the roaring of the flames, I hear a displeased shout. Davina! She's out on the dock in front of the shed. Oh, thank goodness she's okay.

"DAVINA!" I yell. She turns around and looks relieved to see me. I hobble to my feet and she comes my way. We're both pretty beat up.

She reaches the shed--and then the second explosion goes off.