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Lonnie

TOP!

Yay! Thanks for writing more of this Micearenice! It'ss amazing!

I'm a horrible procrastinator. I'm sorry. I'll see if I can post the next few parts later today...

WOO HOO! I just realized that I'm almost done typing this story! So my challenge to myself is to finish writing it BEFORE its birthday, and post the last installment that day, too! If that's even possible...I might not make it, but it's like my own NaNoWriMo--finish it before the last day of November!

So here's the next installment! (Coming up in the next post; I have to see where we left off.)

Wow. I can't believe that this story is almost a year old, and it's still alive! Congratulations Micearenice!

Thanks, Dragonrider!

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Moonfrost had just finished helping the CAPTCHAs with their slingshot practice when the farmer called her from the house. She left the CAPTCHAs to try out their new techniques and rushed inside. The other captains were already sitting at the dining room table, along with the Long Patrol and the Animal Training Unit.

The CBette took her seat next to Shadow Dragon and Spyro, the two other Strategists.

"Well, captains, Spyro and the ATU have finished up the animal escort groups. It's time to make a plan."

The CBers waited patiently for the farmer to start giving ideas. He just looked expectantly at the Strategists until they took the hint.

"Oh! You want us to make a plan?" Shadow realized.

The farmer nodded and sat back in his chair. "I'll watch and make sure there are no holes in your end result."

Moonfrost and Shadow looked at each other nervously, while Spyro and Puck flicked back and forth a crumb on the tabletop, their brains having suddenly vacated the area.

Finally Poetic Panda spoke up. "Didn't the farmer say this morning that we needed to check on the prisoners at the barn and send out two groups to build forts?"

The farmer cast a secret glance at the CBette, a look of knowing shining deep within his eyes.

When that yielded no result, Panda continued. "So," she prompted, "shouldn't Moonfrost start planning out the groups; who should be in them; and Spyro should assign animal escort groups to the three total teams? Puck can discuss her fort ideas and then you'll be all set to come up with a logical plan..."

The Strategists couldn't argue with that; with the help of their friends, they hesitantly began their plan-making.

~ ~ ~

"We're going to need three groups of CBers," Moonfrost began.

"I've designed the three animal escort groups to have one main team that sort of keeps contact with the other ones. Kind of like a main walkie talkie; it's the head group, with two communication birds. That one should have us in it, if we're going."

"Good thought, Spyro, I'll keep that in mind when I assign CBers to their squads."

"Should you make an extra team to carry supplies to and from the fort sites?" Puck asked.

"Great idea."

"I only have three animal groups," Spyro reminded them.

"We'll have to reuse the barn squad's escort. When they get through with their mission they'll start sending supplies to the others," Moonfrost suggested.

"Ok, do you have good communications in every single group?" interjected Shadow Dragon.

"What do you take me for, an amateur?" Spyro retorted. "Of course I do!"

"Sheesh, I was just making sure."

"Ok then, our basic plan is this: Three groups of CBers, soon to be specially picked, will go on missions. The captains will join them in one way or another; some in the main group and one in each of the other two just to keep things together," Moonfrost restated.

"The main group will order the other two, and when the barn group--we'll call that our specialty group?--can start their next mission of sending supplies to the fort groups," Shadow affirmed.

"The CBers here, I imagine, will be responsible for gathering the supplies; the specialty group can actually send them out. It should have an even number so it can get split up," said Puck.

"The Long Patrol will be assorted throughout the teams, also," Moonfrost added as an afterthought.

"Sounds good!" they cheered. "Now, to adress the details."

Moonfrost started by organizing the groups. "How many Chatterboxers should be in a group?" she wondered.

"Definitely at least one captain, some of the long patrol, one ATU member, and a few of the others," Spyro insisted.

"Awesome idea. Long Patrol..."

Icicle, OtR, and Poetic Panda looked up. Shadow did, too, but she knew she probably wouldn't be chosen for this upcoming task.

"It seems as though there are three of you who aren't capains," Moonfrost said, stating the obvious. "So one of each of you will be in a group. Who would like to be in the fort groups?"

Over the Rainbow raised her hand, but that was it. "Ok, Rainbow, you can be in Fort Group Number One. Does anyone have some paper?"

Puck produced two slightly crinkled pieces of blank paper from a small stack in her lap, which the CBers assumed to be her construction plans, and handed them to the captain of weapons.

Moonfrost drew three large rectangular squares on one sheet of paper. She labled them 'Fort Group No. 1', 'Fort Group No. 2', and 'Specialty Group'. She drew Over the Rainbow's name in the first box, and wrote LP next to it, presumably to represent Long Patrol.

"Ok, both of you can't be in the specialty group. Princess Icicle, you're going to be in the second fort group. Panda, you'll be in the specialty group, if that's all right."

Panda nodded. She didn't mind which group she was in.

"Next, we need some captains in these groups. I was thinking that maybe Puck, Spyro, Rosemary, and I should be in group number one, (which is the main group.) Shadow, you can be in the specialty group--you'll be needed to help them sneak around--and...oh, well, we're out of captains now." Moonfrost tapped the table thoughtfully. "Who wants to be in the second fort group?"

How about Rosemary? Jack suggested.

I was considering it, replied Moonfrost, but it would be better for her to stay in the main group where she can have a base. Puck needs to be in the main group, too, BUT...

After a moment of silence, Moonfrost announced the solution. "Puck, you can be in the second fort group, and send us instructions if we need any."

"Ok," Puck answered.

Moonfrost scribbled the five names into their assigned boxes.

"Joss will be in group one, Turgon in group two, and Booksy in the specialty group," Spyro declared as soon as Moonfrost was able to write the trios' names down.

Counting swiftly in her head, Moonfrost added up the number of CBers and AEs in each squad. "There are five people in group one, and three people in groups two and three." Moonfrost and Jack had been watching the other CBers' asessments, and had already deduced that Elsa, Dragonrider, Rufus, Critic A, Mortifero, and Gwen were definitely ready to join the squads...The only issue was that they needed at least a few people to stay at the house!

The barn squad doesn't have to be big. There are three people in it. Just add another and make it four! They have the animals to carry all their stuff, you know. And don't forget the CAPTCHAs!

  "Well," sighed Moonfrost hesitantly. I don't want to put the CAPTCHAs in any sort of danger. 

  Good reasoning. I suppose they'll...be lookouts again?

  Yeah...

"We'll put Dragonrider in the specialty group. Rufus and...Elsa can be put into the second fort group. That makes five in each fort group and four in the barn group." Moonfrost neglected to mention the silent conversation she had just had with Jack, leaving the unspoken decision about the CAPTCHAs for the CBers to figure out. "Gwen, Mortif, and Critic A can stay here to collect supplies with the farmer, which they'll give to the specialty group to deliver, if we do end up starting construction on the forts today."

"Speaking of forts..." interjected Puck. "Now that we have the groups ready, why don't we discuss what we'll be building?"

The AE spread out many detailed construction plans. "I modled each one after my homemade smoke grenades...Easy to build, but really hard to break."

Puck held up her first idea. "In this one, we get wood and stick it together with snail slime. No nails needed. The only problem is, what do we put on top? Snail slime isn't hard, last time I checked."

The farmer interrupted with a suggestion. "There are a few trees called suffodio trees growing in the woods that have enormous leaves. The trunks ooze a special kind of sap that gets hard very easily. If it doesn't stay in circulation, it will harden within five minutes, turning to amber at an alarming rate. The sap surrounds the trunks of the trees, and that keeps its predators at bay--they'll get stuck if they try to get near the tree. The tree has so much sap, however, that much of it goes into the leaves for storage. The leaves harden when they're picked because they have so much sap inside that's no longer getting circulation from the tree. Just be careful not to get yourself stuck. The sap around the trees doesn't harden like you'd think. Since the tree emits a constant stream of sap, it stays gooey, and in the end, the tree's trunk gets larger and larger and larger. But there's no time for botany lessons. That was just my input."

"We can use the leaves to cover the forts. We won't need snails," Puck concluded. "Where exactly are these trees?"

The farmer told Puck the location of the trees while Shadow Dragon changed the plans. "If they're the only ones with a group of animals, we're going to have to make them collect the items as well as--"

"No, no, we've got a map right here," interrupted Puck.

(Through all of this, the non-Strategist CBers were watching the plan being made with fascination.)

"The farmer said we needed...how many forts?"

"Barn, gate, woods. Three," Spyro said.

"Right." Puck drew dots on the map the farmer had given her to represent the forts. "We've got the groups settled, the animals settled, the spots settled..." She shook her head. "Uh, as I was saying, the special group can get things like wood and carry them to and from wherever it is, but the fort that will be in the forest should be in charge of collecting the leaves. There are some right--" Puck drew a circle in the center of the woods, "--here. They'll send the leaves to the other group, they'll build the fort, and if they finish they can help the others and then move on to the other location."

The Captains swiftly discussed the route that would be taken, and five minutes later the groups had been assembled in the front yard.