Chapter 37: The Trap

Ash sighed. "Let's keep going, hopefully we won't run into him again."
"Agreed," snorted Akumu, "He's as annoying as Rusty and Dust."
Ash looked at Akumu, "Look, they may be annoying, but--"
"Chill, dude, I was only being funny!" Akumu insisted, and she walked away.
Ash shook his head to clear it, then turned to Twister as they kept walking. "Do you think we'll run into that meerkat again?"
"I dunno, I hope not, because he's weird. But I don't think he has anywhere else to go, so he's possibly staying," shrugged Twister.
Ash rolled his eyes, "Like we need him, he doesn't really give us anything good, he just bothers us and acts like he's better than us."
"Agreed, he called us 'tourists'... He's the tourist!" Twister growled.
Ash nodded agreement, and then kept walking. He looked around, trying to find any signs of Tiggerkat, wondering where she could possibly be or what could possibly be happening to her. A bit anxious, Ash picked up the pace.
Stone turned to Darner. "Um... Are we making any progress?"
"Don't detect any signs of her," Darner replied, sniffing the air.
Moonlight remarked, "It's a lot more quiter without Rusty and Dust here."
Everyone exchanged glances, then began murmuring agreement.
"Yes, agreed," Akumu nodded. "More silent."
Even though they were his friends, Ash had to agree it was more peaceful without them. "So what should we do now?"
"We better keep looking--" Darner began, and all the sudden the group fell, the leaves supporting them up gave way. Ash found himself falling into quicksand.
"What?!" Stone growled, "Since when is there quicksand in our territory?!"
"Don't thrash!" Twister yowled, "Or you'll be pulled down even more!"
Ash kept absolutely still, trying to float instead of sinking. Twig looked scared, and so did Akumu.
"Who did this?" Twig demanded.
In answer, the meerkat poked his head over the edge, an evil smile across his face.
"You!" Twig gasped.

Author's Note:
Uh-Oh. D8