Chapter 40: An Unexpected Storm

Ash perked his ears as he heard scampering. Rusty and Dust crashed through the bushes, looking wide-eyed. "Guys! What happened?"
Rusty breathed heavily. "Tiggerkat... Shrunk...!"
"Shrunk?" Stone echoed. "That has to be the stupidest thing--"
Darner silenced Stone with a flick of his tail, and turned to Rusty, "What do you mean?"
"Well, we found Tiggerkat in a hot pool," Dust growled, "And then Rusty went to get me to tell me he found her. So I followed, and we found what looked like a mini version of Tiggerkat."
"A mini version?" echoed Ash, unsure of what Dust would be talking about.
"Yeah... It was orange-ish and had stripes," shrugged Rusty.
"We should go investigate," Twister nodded. "Who's gonna carry Twig?"
"Carry Twig?" Dust echoed.
"Um, she was knocked out when she fell into a pit of sand," said Akumu, and when it looked like Dust was going to ask another question, she continued, "Long story, we'll tell you later... Let's just go find Tiggerkat."
Twister grabbed Twig by the scruff and began walking, careful not to make Twig hit any briars or rocks. Twister gracefully leaped over a log and continued. The rest of the group followed, Akumu taking up the rear.
"So did anyone miss us?" Dust asked Ash, walking along with the group. He ducked as he neared a hanging branch, and kept walking alongside Ash.
"No, not really, only me I guess," shrugged Ash, as he kept walking, then trotted a little faster to catch up with the others as he realized he was falling behind.
The patrol stopped and Darner turned to Rusty and Dust. "Where is she?"
"We'll take the lead," nodded Dust, puffing out his chest, pretending to be important. Stone rolled her eyes in annoyance, and stepped back to let the twins take the lead. They began walking, and the patrol followed.
It wasn't a long time before they came to a halt. Dust looked at the group. "Okay now... Tiggerkat's in this pool over this log." He hopped over it, and Ash followed his friend, and Rusty and Twister followed closely behind them. Tiggerkat was asleep in the pool, looking normal size.
"Um, Dust, this is Tiggerkat shrunk?" Stone glared at him.
"Well, she was smaller when we found her!" Rusty protested.
"Hey guys!"
Ash turned and saw Tiggerkat awake. She was smiling, looking refreshed and calm. He was half relieved to see her okay, but half disappointed that they got worked up about her being missing for nothing, to find she hadn't been harmed by anything at all.
"Didja come to join me? It's very relaxing!" Tiggerkat smiled, crawling out.
"Um, no Tiggerkat. We want you back at The Bending Tower," Twister said.
"Alrightie!" nodded Tiggerkat, still smiling. She hopped to the group, and together they proceeded back to their own territory, back to The Bending Tower.

Goldwing was talking to Kabu when the group came back. They were whispering, in conversation, as animals around them were in groups talking or running or demonstrating a type of technique. There was very few animals there, most of the patrols had gone out for the search.
"Ah, you're back!" smiled Goldwing. "So is she injured?"
"Not at all," nodded Darner.
"Yeah, we found her totally relaxed," snapped Stone.
Tiggerkat came up to Goldwing, "I found a great hot pool to relax in!"
"Sounds great," Goldwing nodded. He then howled, the signal for the patrols to come back, that Tiggerkat was found. Goldwing then turned to Kabu, "When everyone comes back, we're holding another meeting." He then whispered something into Kabu's ear, and the great lion nodded, and trotted over to Airwing and they began a conversation.
Soon enough, the patrols all began coming back. Everyone was talking, murmuring and exchanging news, and most of them seemed to be curious as to what happened to Tiggerkat.
"So what happened to her?" Eclipse asked Ash, both of them in the sea of talking animals. The she-wolf had to make her voice a bit louder than normal so she could be heard over the sound of everyone else's conversations.
"Everyone!" Goldwing shouted, and everyone stopped talking, desperate to know what happened, and turned to the leader. Ash turned his attention to Goldwing, and so did Eclipse, sitting down next to Ash in the middle of everyone. "Tiggerkat was found and brought back to The Bending Tower safely--"
"Yeah, not a scratch on her!" Stone yowled. Everyone exchanged glances, and there were very few whispers, but it didn't start a big discussion.
"So, I'd like to thank Darner's patrol for bringing them back. Darner, you did an excellent job leading this patrol to finding our lost traveler," nodded Goldwing.
Darner dipped his head. "Your welcome, Goldwing, I was glad to help."
"The patrol contained some apprentices, so I'd like to do something very important..." a smile played on Goldwing's face. "Ash, Rusty--"
Suddenly, there was a terrible tremor. Ash fell to the ground because of it, and everyone began talking. Eclipse tried to help Ash up but fell herself, and quickly got to her paws. Ash did too, and after a while the tremor stopped.
"What was that?!" demanded Flare.
"Is anyone hurt?" Goldwing asked, looking wide-eyed. No one reported anything, showing everyone was okay.
Suddenly, there was a bang, the loudest thunder Ash had ever heard. Max and Raoul yelped in fear and hid behind a rock smaller than them. What was gray clouds covering the sky one minute ago now had turned into dark clouds, very dark. Everyone began talking now, and Twig was now awake, shaking in fear. Tiggerkat didn't seem to notice, and was poking a little mouse on the ground. Eclipse looked scared, her blind eyes wide.
Everyone then turned to Goldwing, unsure of what to do. A breeze ruffled the golden wolf's pelt, as another thunder clap came, louder than the one before.
"Everyone duck! Save yourselves!" Goldwing yowled, as the most terrible tremor in the ground erupted under Ash's feet.

Author's Note:
OH NOES. This doesn't sound good!