Part 4 – The Decision

“What do you mean Patron’s been snatched?”

Elder Gide’s spectral voice sounded genuinely startled after the Zoroark pair’s explanation. Tigri stared blankly at the lot of them as gasps and startled murmurs went about the gathered villagers in Abri’s central square, mixed in with a few grumbles and the occasional mutter of “serves him right”.

Even so, regardless of their specific feelings, the unifying thread between everyone’s reaction was a sense of shock. Patron, the Patron, who led the pack that was all-too-ready to try and bully the weaker villages and make nasty threats whenever their tribute wasn’t forthcoming… was snatched by a human? Ticho traded puzzled stares between Elder Gide and the Zoroark pair and the Zorua with them before holding out his leek accusingly.

“What happened out there? Since that’s not exactly easy for us to believe from what we’ve seen of Patron before.”

Chasseur and Ombre hesitated briefly and while Tigri couldn’t pick up any of their thoughts, just their expressions made it obvious they were weighing their words. As hard as it was to imagine with the way they came into town just yesterday, the pair were clearly worried about saying something that wouldn’t sit right with the villagers. Ombre took a moment to stoop down and calm the audibly whining Zorua they’d brought along as Chasseur uneasily pawed at his mane and spoke up with an uneasy stammer.

“W-Well, that human that was roaming around these parts got close to our dens where our pups live,” Chasseur explained. “We weren’t really sure what to do about it since our dens don’t have trees or brush for cover like the ones in our old territory in the Mazewoods did…”

“So Patron decided that we should try to deal with the human. Or at least scare him off,” Ombre added. “We made an Illusion to disorient him and prepared an ambush with our stronger packmates, but-”

“He and his partners proved to be more than what you could handle,” the Aegislash finished. “I’ve seen enough in my years to know how this story goes with humans.”

The Chasseur and Ombre visibly cringed, before the male Zoroark raised a claw and spoke up.

“Uh. Well… that’s pretty much what happened, yes.”

Tigri’s heart skipped a beat as she traded surprised glances with Stig and Rouge. She’d figured that the human and his companions were out of their league from that Avalugg they ran into, but they really managed to fight their way through an ambush by Patron’s pack? And carry him off?

The little haven around her suddenly felt a lot smaller and a lot less safe. If this human came across Abri, would even Elder Gide stand a chance in a fight with his partners if they were really so strong?

The other Pokémon gathered in the square began to murmur, some in fearful awe of there being such a strong foe prowling just beyond the forests that hid their home. Others worried aloud about what they’d do if the human came into the village. Still, others had a decidedly unsympathetic air to them, like a Skiddo who made his way to the front of the crowd and piped up, if still keeping a noticeable berth from the Zoroark.

“So after taking every opportunity you could to try and lord over us since you all left the Mazewoods, you now expect us to turn around and help you like nothing ever happened? Is that it?”

Murmurs of agreement went about the gathering as glares began to settle on the pair of Zoroark. Even Elder Gide and Ticho seemed unimpressed, as they joined in with visible frowns.

“This isn’t exactly a trivial request you’re asking of us, and I’m frankly not sure why you need our help. You’re illusionists by nature and got the drop on the human once already,” the Farfetch’d harrumphed. “I’m sure your pack can regroup and try again to rescue Patron. You certainly won’t be wanting for motivation this time around.”

Tigri watched as the Zoroark squirmed, and they looked almost as cornered as they had when they and Patron had been forced to back down the day before. The Zorua in particular looked shaken and visibly quivered as Chasseur stammered and cut in.

“I-If that was possible, we’d already be doing that!” Chassuer cried. “Before the human’s sphere snatched Patron, he was badly wounded by the human’s partners.”

“Half of our numbers from that ambush fell in combat,” Ombre chimed in. “When we came back from our retreat, we had to drag them back to our dens. They’re in no condition to cast Illusions at the moment, most of them can barely stand right now!”

“We know that some of you are as strong as those Pokémon! Even stronger, maybe! That’s why we thought that your help would make a difference!” Chasseur cried. “We won’t be able to follow the human back through the Mazewoods since we’re not on good terms with the other Zoroark packs there. If we don’t free Patron before the human goes back into their territory, we’ll never get him back!”

Those two must’ve been desperate if that ‘Chasseur’ Zoroark was resorting to flattery to try and get his way. Even so, something about the pair’s explanation was strange, and Stig and Rouge seemed to notice it themselves from their dubious expressions.

“Wait a minute,” Stig murmured to himself. “The human and his partners were strong enough to knock out half of the Pokémon who attacked them, and they only snatched Patron? How on earth does that make sense?”

It… did sound weird now that Stig mentioned it, though humans were deeply capricious creatures. They knew that all too well. Still, all they had to go with was the word of Patron’s pack. Their kind had a reputation for trickery, one that was well-deserved based on what she knew of them and the other Zoroark packs that prowled the Mazewoods.

What if this was also some sort of trick? Patron’s packmates surely weren’t happy about what had happened yesterday, so who was to say that this sudden about-face from them wasn’t some sort of gambit of theirs?

“Pl-Please, that’s my daddy that the human took!”

Tigri snapped to attention as she saw the Zorua from the trio approach Elder Gide and Ticho, her ears pinned back and her eyes visibly tearing up. There was a moment’s silence before Ticho raised his leek and leveled it accusingly at the Zoroark pair.

“That’s why you brought that kit along with you?” Ticho scoffed. “To play at our emotions to agree to a dangerous task that you won’t do yourselves?”

The Zorua flinched and backpedaled as the tone of the crowd took a more negative turn. Loud grumbles and growls began to fill the air, as villagers on the Battlefield’s bleachers began to chime in with words of sharp disapproval.

“This is low even for you,” a Gabite snarled.

“Yeah, everyone knows that Zorua can learn Fake Tears,” a Diggersby huffed. “Even now, you’re still trying to take advantage of us!”

Tigri… wasn’t so sure that the Zorua’s reaction was an act. She supposed that she wouldn’t know for sure from how it was almost impossible for her and Stig to pick up any thoughts or feelings from Dark-types like the Pokémon in Patron’s pack, but the Zorua looked genuinely hurt from the reaction.

“B-But this isn’t fake!” the Zorua insisted. “My daddy r-really is-!”

“I understand that, Zorua,” a ghostly voice said. “But you have your own burdens to bear in the wild, and we have our own.”

The Zorua and her caretakers froze as Elder Gide pulled the shield off his blade and tensed himself, training a harsh glare over at her caretakers.

“In light of our current troubles in Abri, it would be beyond foolish of me as an Elder to get its villagers wrapped up in still greater ones without a very strong reason for doing so,” the Aegislash said. “You all at least have the option of trying to reach out to your counterparts in the Mazewoods. We’re not endangering our village for the sake of Pokémon that don’t live in it who don’t have an interest in helping us.”

The Ghost-type trailed off a moment, before turning away with a quiet, metallic-sounding huff that lingered in the air.
“When something about the present state of affairs changes, we’ll talk. And not a moment sooner.”

The Zorua hung her head as her voice began to hitch and she started to cry. Chasseur and Ombre looked visibly alarmed, and they hurriedly made their way forward as their voices came out with audible whines. Tigri couldn’t help but flick her ears in surprise. Outside of getting in over their heads in a fight, she never heard anyone from Patron’s pack do that to one of Abri’s villagers.

“Look, we’ll put up the Illusions again!” Ombre pleaded. “We’ll even cancel next moon’s tribute and find some way of making up the difference on our own if you help!”

“A-And the human has a bunch of those ‘treasures’ you village Pokémon like at the moment!” Chasseur added. “If you all help us deal with him, you can have all of it!”

Tigri stiffened up and looked back at her teammates. She caught Stig giving a rare blink in surprise while Rouge tilted his head in blank confusion.

“‘Treasures’…? As in the salvage that the human and his partners took from us yesterday?” he asked.

Tigri supposed that the Zoroark’s description did match up with the salvage that’d been stolen for them. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was in the clutches of a foe they stood no chance against or everything else about how Abri was presently in danger, she’d be relieved knowing that all their hard work hadn’t just been destroyed.

She snapped back to attention at the sound of a metallic clang from Elder Gide, where he pulled his tassels back from rapping against his shield and turned his attention back to the Dark-type wilds in their midst.

“I already told you. I won’t have any part in risking this village’s well-being in affairs that don’t concern it,” the Aegislash said. “Could we even assume that Patron would make good on anything you promise here even if we did successfully free him?”

Chasseur and Ombre visibly paused and set their teeth on edge as the Aegislash’s eye narrowed, before they began to speak up one after the other.

“I mean… he obviously doesn’t know what’s going on right now,” Chasseur explained. “B-But I’m sure the rest of us would be able to talk him into making good on things!”

Tigri flicked her ears at the Zoroark’s reply. While she’d have hoped that Patron wouldn’t have been enough of an ingrate to just let being rescued go unrewarded, she couldn’t help but notice that Chasseur very specifically didn’t make any promises in his response. Elder Gide seemed to have noticed the same, as he shook in place and closed his eye with a tired sigh.

“That’s not good enough to justify putting the villagers who count on me in harm’s way,” the Aegislash replied. “Though if you must seek help from here, you’re welcome to try asking some of the villagers if they’ll aid you of their own volition…”

He motioned off at the crowd, as the suggestion was met with low mutters and growls.

“Taking on a human that even Patron couldn’t beat?” a Rhyhorn scoffed. “Good luck with that one. Nobi and I might be a bit daring about the missions we take, but we’re not stupid.”

“Hrmph, I hope the human snatches the rest of you,” a Vanillish spat. “Knowing you lot, this was probably all some dirty trick to take advantage of us!”

“We already have our own problems!” a Shuckle cried. “No thanks to you!”

The Zoroark backed in on each other and flattened their ears with low grimaces. The crowd began to thin as the onlookers began to drift off, a few walking in front of Tigri’s line of sight and cutting off her view. She tried to peek around them, only for one body after the next to cut her view off. By the time the view ahead of the Dojo’s pit and the Battlefield was clear again, she saw Ombre holding the Zorua in her paws as the younger fox sobbed into her mane. Ticho was already drifting off as Elder Gide looked at the three wordlessly before the Aegislash turned away himself.

“It appears you would be better suited trying to come up with alternative solutions,” the Aegislash said. “From what you told me, you don’t have much time. I would suggest going back to your fellows to see if there’s a way of freeing Patron without getting into a direct confrontation with the human.”

Ombre briefly opened her mouth to protest, only for her counterpart to sharply tug at her shoulder and start heading for the path northward from the square.

“Come on, Ombre,” he said. “Let’s just get out of here.”

Chasseur and Ombre drifted off as the Zorua’s cries slowly faded as they headed further and further for the fringes where Abri gave way to the forest. All the while, Tigri kept looking on after them, even as the square slowly returned to an uneasy semblance of normalcy.

Then she heard shuffling from beside her on the stool, and then paws pattering in the dirt. She looked down and saw Stig was wandering ahead, heading off towards the northern path.

She certainly hoped it wasn’t for the reason she thought it was. But she supposed that that part of her brother had never changed since even before they’d fled the place with the harsh lights.

“Stig, where are you going?” Rouge asked.

“To get our morning mission,” he answered. “I think that Tigri and I might have just found it.”

Tigri slid off the stepstool as her head started to ache and she raised a paw to her brow. She looked around, and after seeing the square still thick with Pokémon milling about, she spoke up with her mind’s voice in a sharp hiss.

“Stig, what are you doing? Why on earth do we want to get involved with Patron’s pack?”

“Tigri. Wasn’t one of the reasons that we started Team Aspirant so that way we could help other Pokémon like us? Pokémon that had been hurt by humans?”

There was a lingering silence before Stig turned his eyes back for the north.

“I haven’t decided yet if I want to help those three, but they are Pokémon like the ones we started this team to help. We might as well at least hear them out first before making a decision.”

Tigri looked on silently as her brother’s words reverberated in her head. She wrestled with them for a moment, before she took a step forward, and then another, and another…

“W-Wait, Tigri! Where are you going?!”

Rouge’s alarmed cries filled the air as before she knew it, she was halfway across the gap between her and Stig. She caught up with him along the path, as the huts in and around Abri’s central square gave way to trees and more and more of the surrounding forest.

“Tigri! Stig! H-Hold on just a moment!”

Tigri set her teeth on edge at the sharp chirps coming from behind. She had hoped that Rouge would have turned back already and gone to work at the Post Office, but she didn’t have the heart to shoo the Fletchling off. Not when a part of her wasn’t fully convinced that she was crazy for deciding to even hear the Zoroark out.

The last of the burrows and nests gave way to berry patches and then finally, to unclaimed forest. She didn’t realize how quickly one could get into the belt of trees that nobody from the village lived in when running fast enough. It was a place where wild Pokémon roamed about and where Patron’s pack normally kept Abri obscured in Illusions to hide it from outside intruders.

It was honestly difficult at times to tell whether or not the Illusions were really there with how thick and overgrown the surroundings were outside the path. The way that the shadows on the surrounding trees looked, and the presence of Zoroark and Zorua footsteps wearing along the dirt being the only real indications that those Illusions weren’t present right then.

The whole time, those footsteps along with the scents their creators had left behind were their main guide forward. Then came the sound of sniffling cries and hushed, faltering words of reassurance, which confirmed that they’d been headed off in the right direction.

“C-Calm down, Bijou. We’ll- We’ll think of something we can do.”

Stig turned up ahead in the path and motioned towards a section of damaged brush. Tigri crept forward alongside him and Rouge to get a better view, as little by little, she began to make out a forest clearing beyond the undergrowth. Both of the Zoroark from earlier were there, as was the Zorua, and that ‘Ombre’ Zoroark visibly had her claws full trying to comfort this ‘Bijou’, who had obviously been crying for some time. All the while, the other Zoroark, ‘Chasseur’, looked on with an uneasy grimace, and stared off towards the ground vacantly.

Crack!

Tigri flinched and flared her ears at the sound of a twig snapping, and turned to notice she’d broken one by rubbing up against a bush while pressing ahead. At once, the two Zoroark snapped to attention and Chasseur entered into a crouch, ready to lunge ahead at a moment’s notice with his fur bristling.

“Whoever’s out there, show yourself!” he snarled.

There was a moment of hesitation before Stig pushed forward and stepped out into the clearing. Tigri briefly reached out to tug him back, only to realize that she’d already given herself away.

There was no turning back now. She followed after her brother into the clearing as Rouge poked his head out, only to shrink back into the brush. She felt so exposed being out in the open like this, but fortunately the Zoroark both eased up after seeing them. They traded glances with each other and began to approach, as Ombre paused and cocked a brow.

“… Wait a minute, you two were in the crowd when we were in your village yesterday,” she said.

“We were there today, too,” Stig said. “Though before you say anything else, there’s something that I need to know…”

He stepped forward and briefly fought back a wince as he brought a paw to his chest. Tigri reflexively started forward, only for her brother to motion for a stop as he stood up firmer and stared up into the Zoroark pair’s eyes.

“Did you two really mean everything that you said back there?” he asked. “All those promises that you made before Elder Gide turned you away?”

There was a moment of silence as even Bijou quieted down, brushing away a few stray tears as she turned to pay attention. Chasseur and Ombre traded glances with each other before Chasseur folded his arms with a low huff and turned his snout up.

“Why on earth do you care?” he demanded. “It’s not as if it matters anymore.”

“But it does,” Stig insisted. “If you’ll actually keep your promises, we’ll help you.”

Tigri’s ears briefly flared as her mouth dropped open in shock when a sharp chirp snapped her to attention. It was Rouge, having freshly burst from the brush with his beak hanging agape. She fought back words from her throat to press Stig with the voice in her mind as one thought in particular dominated it:

“Stig, what are you doing?”

She whirled around towards him and had to fight against her inner frustration to keep her from launching into a hissing tirade of how irresponsible it was for Stig to be volunteering for a mission they had no hope of succeeding at. Her ears pricked at the sound of small footsteps approaching from ahead along with a small sniffle. It was the Zorua, ‘Bijou’, staring wide-eyed at her and Stig with a stammering protest.

“B-But a human took daddy!” she protested. “A-And his partners were really big and mean, too! How on earth would you three be able to help him?”

“Two,” Rouge corrected. “I can’t fly and mom’s probably getting worried about why I haven’t shown up at the Post Office yet. If you’re really going to do this, it’s just going to be you and Tigri, Stig.”

Right. Two. Tigri already wasn’t sure what on earth Stig was thinking with his offer, but this was just another reason to just forget about the whole idea and go home. As if their chances weren’t already lopsided enough, they’d be facing a human with partners who dwarfed them without their team Spotter!

The wilds clearly shared her doubts, as Ombre shook her head and turned away with a sigh.

“Look, kits. It’s cute that you’re trying to show that you care, but our pack isn’t about to try its odds fighting the human and his partners again on our own again,” she explained. “And not to be rude, but you three wouldn’t exactly make a meaningful difference.”

“But we can,” Stig insisted. “And we don’t have to actually fight the human or his partners to do so.”

Tigri shot an askew glance over at Stig, as even Rouge couldn’t help but chime in with a sharp chirp of disbelief.

“How, Stig?” the Fletchling protested. “Even if you managed to sneak up on the human, how on earth could you get Patron away from him?”

“Well… Patron’s stuck in one of those sphere things humans have, right?” Stig mused aloud. “We don’t have to actually beat the human to free him, just to get that sphere Patron’s trapped in and get it away from him. Tigri and I can move things around with our powers, so as long as the human’s distracted, we should be able to sneak it away from him.”

Tigri paused and shot a sidelong glance at her brother. She couldn’t believe that she was saying this, but Stig’s idea actually sounded like it could work. They were already small and could hide among the flowers in the meadow easily, and if Chasseur or Ombre were there to help with creating Illusions, it’d be even easier to sneak up and leave without being detected.

It wasn’t exactly a safe idea, especially if this human and his partners were really as strong as what Chasseur and Ombre had described… but so many problems around Abri would be solved if they could somehow make this work. The town would be hidden again from the dangers that lurked beyond it, and they’d even get a moon where they wouldn’t have to pay tribute to Patron’s pack and could put it towards making the upcoming winter a bit less lean. And if they were really lucky, maybe they’d even get their salvage back to turn over to Achille to complete their mission from yesterday.

Those human spheres they used to snatch Pokémon were about the size of a pine cone, right? It wouldn’t be that hard to move around something that small with her mind’s powers… but from what distance? And under what conditions?

She scanned her surroundings and saw a rock about the size of her head just past the three wilds. It was a bit too big to be the right size, but it was good enough to test her own doubts.

“Actually… maybe Stig’s onto something,” she said. “Since we can move things much bigger than one of those spheres if we have to.”

She focused and held out a paw as the power in her head pulsed with warmth. As expected, the rock abruptly jolted and lifted from the ground. She raised her paw and the rock rose into the air much to Chasseur and the others’ yelping surprise.

The stone wobbled briefly from the sound of the yelp, but bringing the rock closer and closer from across the clearing wasn’t much harder than pulling a stick on a string in from the quieter parts of the river. It wasn’t easy to keep this level of focus, but the human sphere was bound to be smaller than this rock, and lighter too…

And the more she thought about it, the less and less crazy Stig’s idea started to sound to herself.

The Espurr broke her focus abruptly in front of her and the stone fell in front of her feet with a loud thud. She gasped from the exertion briefly and quietly cringed. If she’d done that near the human, she’d have given herself away in a heartbeat. She grudgingly turned her eyes up. After the point she was trying to make, she doubted Chasseur and Ombre surely would be impressed with how the display turned out…

Except, when she looked at the three wilds, they stared awestruck at her and the rock. A small grin came over Stig’s face, as he hopped onto the top of the rock, and waved his paws for attention, this time closer to his audience’s eyes.

“Also, we wouldn’t need your entire pack to help us,” he explained. “Even if just one of you made Illusions to disguise us, it’d easily be able to hide us while we snuck up on the human.”

A silence followed as the Zoroark traded uneasy glances with one another. They seemed hesitant, and even if they didn’t seem to make as big a deal out of her dropping the rock as she feared, it was hard for Tigri to fault them. She and Stig weren’t even close to the strongest or most experienced Pokémon in Abri, and they were asking for the two to trust them with the fate of their pack’s leader. The pair briefly narrowed their eyes only to catch themselves as Bijou stepped forward and gave a wary prod at the rock, before turning her head back at her Zoroark caretakers.

“Chasseur? Ombre? W-Will this really work?” Bijou murmured. “W-Would they really be able to get Daddy back?”

There was a lingering silence before the Zoroark’s expressions eased and Chasseur looked away with a quiet sigh.

“I’m not fully convinced, but I haven’t heard many better options lately,” he said. “We’ll take whatever help we can get.”

Wait, was that really it? Tigri was starting to get a bit worried now. She didn’t think that Chasseur and Ombre were lying about Patron’s fate, but maybe they were rushing into things. After all, these were the same Pokémon who tried to bully and threaten them just the other day! Could she and Stig really trust that they wouldn’t try to back out of their deal once they’d gotten what they wanted?

“Come on, we should get going right now,” Ombre said. “The human was still in the area when we set off and-”

“And we will,” Tigri hastily insisted. “Once your pack puts up Illusions to disguise our village again.”

Tigri breathed in and out quietly as everybody’s eyes turned and settled on with quiet stares. Even Stig and Rouge seemed taken aback by how she cut in, to say nothing about the wilds. From her place, Ombre folded her arms and narrowed her eyes in reply, before speaking up with a sharp harrumph.

“That’s not what your friend just proposed a moment ago-” she began.

“Maybe, but we make decisions together as a team,” she said. “And I say his offer doesn’t account for the risk that the human, or someone else with him, winds up following us back to Abri. As such, it makes sense for us to ask for something upfront to try and deal with it.”

The Zoroark were now giving icy glares. Tigri started to worry that she was losing them, before shaking her head. She’d gone this far, all that was left was to stick to the path she’d chosen and see how things shook out.

“It’d also give you an opportunity to prepare other plans with your pack in case we fail,” Tigri insisted. “It’d give us a little time to try and find others in the village who would be willing to help us. If we don’t get Patron back successfully, your packmates putting up those Illusions could drop them at a moment’s notice and go off to try whatever fallback plans you all had.”

Neither Chasseur nor Ombre said anything. Chasseur opened his mouth to reply, only to see Bijou staring up with a pleading gaze from the side. He hesitated, before turning away with a low grunt.

“… Fine. Give us fifteen minutes to gather who we can from our pack,” he said. “Though if we don’t see you, we’re moving on and trying our luck getting Patron back ourselves.”

The Zoroark set off, with Ombre and Bijou following along back into the brush as Tigri stared after them blankly. Fifteen minutes was hardly enough time to make a circuit around Abri’s square and come back here. Would they be able to have enough time to mount a meaningful search for help in the village?

“T-Tigri! Stig!”

She turned back alongside her brother towards Rouge, who trilled in sharp protest and batted out his unsplinted wing.

“Why on earth did you agree to help them?!” he cried. “It’s dangerous to be getting that close to a human! Elder Gide even is keeping Sheriff Ron and his Officers from going outside the village because even they don’t stand a chance against that human!”

Tigri blanched as doubts suddenly began to swirl in her mind. She suddenly felt so much more alone, and with that genuinely scared look in Rouge’s eyes… a part of her worried that she and Stig were about to make a terrible mistake.

“Because it’s a chance to help Pokémon hurt by humans. Both in Patron’s pack and here in Abri.”

Tigri flicked her ears as the voice from Stig’s throat spoke up. She turned as her brother walked forward and crouched in front of Rouge. He held a paw out, giving a gentle nudge at Rouge’s uninjured wing with a stern expression.

“That’s the reason why Tigri and I created Team Aspirant to begin with,” Stig said. “If we can’t make good on its purpose when we have a chance to because we’re too scared, then why are we bothering with working on it?”

Yes… she did remember they had said that back then. And the more she stopped to think things over, the more the memories of when they first made Team Aspirant came flooding back. Memories of the first day just getting walked through how the village’s Teams worked by the Furfrou Brothers and how happy they were to follow in their footsteps. Memories of their first mission just helping to gather odds and ends around the forest. Memories of how excited they’d been to have Rouge first join their team.

As daunting as it seemed. This was precisely the moment that they had founded Team Aspirant for. The moment that they had been preparing themselves for.

Except, Rouge seemed visibly unswayed. The Fletchling didn’t say anything back for a while before he pulled himself away and turned back for the brush with a low chirp.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help with this even if my wing wasn’t hurt,” he said. “I just- This can’t possibly end well and you know it, Stig. Just the two of you going up against that human and who knows how many partners he’s hiding.”

Tigri wavered, as thoughts of the Avalugg from the day before and how big it was came back to her. Chasseur and Ombre had mentioned that the human had partners. Meaning that there were others aside from just that one that they would already not have a chance against.

She let her gaze drift back to the rock and then back to Stig. No, there was a chance. A chance to make all of this right, a chance to protect Abri at a time when it was most vulnerable, with power that she knew that they had.

And as dangerous as it was, maybe they didn’t have to go into this on their own…

“It won’t be just the two of us, Rouge. Chasseur and Ombre will be there, at least,” Tigri said. “And if you help us, we can have even more help on our backs.”

The Fletchling paused and looked back at her, holding his head at a dubious tilt. She sucked in a breath, before continuing in a pleading tone.

“I… know you can’t do much in the field right now with your wing, but if the other villagers knew what was going on… well, I don’t know if a lot of them would help us,” she said. “But even one or two of them coming could make all the difference.”

There was a lingering silence before Rouge turned back and held his good wing out with a low murmur.

“I’ll… think about it,” Rouge said. “But… you two really don’t have to do this. You didn’t promise those Zoroark anything. You can still turn back.”

“We know,” Stig said. “But this is something that we want to do.”
The Fletchling didn’t say anything for a long while, before turning away with a low, deflated chirp.

“I… I understand. Good luck out there, then.”

Tigri raised a paw and started after the Fletchling, but there was nothing more to be said. He slipped back through the brush, and after a bit of rustling, he was gone and the clearing returned to silence.

The fifteen minutes Chasseur and Ombre gave them went by longer than Tigri anticipated. They’d managed to make it as far as the Infirmary to try and ask around for help, but everyone brushed them off the moment that it came out that they intended to help Patron’s pack. After a while, they just gave up on asking around and hurried back to the clearing to wait.

Had it really only been fifteen minutes? Tigri had started wondering if maybe Chasseur and Ombre had stood them up, only for a glimpse up at the sun above to reveal that the entire time, it’d hardly budged.

It was just her and Stig. Alone. With nothing but him and that anxious, fluttering sensation in her stomach as company.

“… Do you think that Rouge told anyone?” she asked.

“I’m sure that he has, Tigri,” he said. “You know how he and his mom are. They don’t have the reputation of being the town gossips for nothing.”

She’d been counting on that, but the whole time, the clearing had remained quiet beyond the idle stirrings of the forest and her and Stig’s paws pattering against the dirt. Every now and then, she thought that she heard footsteps or movement from the brush, but whenever she called out towards it, no answer would come back.

There just wasn’t anyone there. Not even a random villager who’d come and try and stop them.

Tigri turned away with a low sigh when she suddenly heard brush rustling and briefly glimpsed a flash of magenta from the corner of her eye. She whirled around to try and see who was coming, only to see empty forest.

Except, the brush and the trees in the background were completely still. And they didn’t move even when she felt the wind nip against her fur.
“Wait,” Stig said. “Why aren’t any of the branches moving-?”

Loud rustling rang out from the direction of the bushes on the right side of the clearing, followed by a magenta flash. Much to Tigri’s mewling surprise, Ombre and Chasseur suddenly appeared and stepped out hunched over and visibly short on breath.

“Sorry we’re late, but we made good on our end of the bargain,” Chasseur grunted. “Patron isn’t around to tell us not to keep these Illusions up right now. They stay up until either of us tell everyone to drop them.”

Chasseur and Ombre looked around the clearing expectantly, only for them to abruptly stop and their ears to droop. They were obviously disappointed, and even without her powers to pry into things, Tigri already had a good idea why…

“So nobody else came after all, huh?” Ombre murmured.

“Unfortunately,” Tigri sighed. “But it shouldn’t change anything.”

“You were ready to leave with just the two of us earlier,” Stig insisted. “As we explained back then, we don’t need numbers if we’re not going to get into a straight fight.”

Ombre and Chasseur traded uneasy looks with each other before Ombre lowered her head with a low sigh.

“I guess we’re not in a position to be picky right now. But are you sure you’re ready to leave now?” she asked. “The human made his camp at the central rise in Longbloom Meadow and we saw him headed there on our way over. It could be our last chance to catch up with him before he goes back to the Mazewoods.”

Tigri let her gaze drift down to the ground. She’d always known it was a distant hope, but the whole time, she’d thought that someone from town would come and join them.

She supposed this was it. Just her and Stig. Patron’s pack had already started hiding Abri again, and if they backed down and went back to the village, they’d have nothing at all to protect it.

Tigri paused briefly, before getting up and pacing forward with a quiet sigh. There was only one thing left for them to do right now.

“Yeah, we’re ready. Let’s go.”